u are an RHIA who works in the information systems department. You have extensive HIM expired ence as well as information systems experience. You tend to get projects related to HIM. Your next assignment is to create a data dictionary that will be used for data collection in the new MPI at your hos pital. Your HIM background kicks in when you see the data quality issues in the instructions that you are provided. Administration has told you that the data elements collected in Table 5-2 will be used to man age data collection in your new computerized MPI. Each row indicates one field; the format column tells how the data should be formatted and the number field is the number of characters the field should allow.

Analyze this information and identify possible problems with the way the fields would be entered into the system. Make recommendations on how to improve the information, including missing data elements, inappropriate data elements, ways to build quality into the system, ways to improve data collection, and so on. You have also been instructed to ensure that the data elements meet Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Set (UHDDS), Uniform Ambulatory Care Data Set (UACDS), and Data Elements for Emergency Department Systems (DEEDS) requirements.

Table 5-2 Fieki Properties
Field Properties
FieldFormatNumber of Characters
NameFN MI LN (alpha)25
AddressAlpha25
City, State, ZipAlphanumeric25
Discharge DateNumeric6
Admission DateNumeric6
Discharge Disposition01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 202
ServiceAlpha3
Date of BirthNumeric6
Raceb, w, h2
Genderm, f, uI