Checking Entries

MCMP-PAT has a data validator that checks your entries for errors. To access the data validator click on the Check button on the toolbar, or select Patient Arrow right.

Check Entries from the menu or press Ctrl+K. The validator will then determine if there are missing values, invalid values or inconsistencies. This feature performs the following:

checks for missing required elements
checks for related elements (elements with minimal differences) with different values
checks for similar elements with different values
displays the list of errors and warnings

By default the error message is shown every time you save the changes. This behavior can be changed in the Preferences dialog box. A patient must be selected for this feature to be accessible.

Checked Elements
The elements are validated using the parent-child order. If the parent element is missing or invalid, the child element is not checked. If the parent element has been provided, and based on its value, there is no need to check for the child element, the child element is not checked. For example if DM: BP Taken is "No" then the BP Date, Systolic and Diastolic elements are not checked.

Only elements under the measures that were set to be abstracted are validated. This configuration is set in the Measure form. The Synchronized Elements topic has more information about the elements checked for inconsistencies.

Types of Problems
These are the three types of problems the data validator looks for:

Problem	Description
Warnings	Indicates that there are inconsistencies in the element and a related element in another disease topic. See the topic on Synchronized Elements for the list of inconsistencies that can cause warnings and errors.
Errors	Indicates the element is missing, invalid or is inconsistent with a similar element in another topic.
Critical	This error prevents the changes from being saved. If any of the following elements is missing, a critical error will occur: first name last name gender date of birth If a critical error is found, the Errors and Warnings form will always be shown, regardless of the settings in the Preferences form.

Timing of Validation
The data is checked for completeness when the user launches the validator and before the changes are saved.

Effect to Data Status
Errors in any element will cause the Data Status of the topic that the element is under to be marked as incomplete. Warnings will not have this effect. Warnings will set the "Warnings" field in the Patient Status box to "Yes".

Finding Errors
If the user launches the validator by clicking on the Check button or selecting it from the menu, the Errors and Warnings form will be shown. This form can be configured in the Preferences form to show up whenever the user saves the changes and there are errors or warnings. In this form, users can directly find the source of error by highlighting the error row and clicking the Find Error button. This will close the form and set the focus on the element that is in question. For a shortcut, users can double-click on the row.

Errors and Warnings form showing the list of errors and warnings found.

Errors and Warnings form showing that there were no errors found.

Sample Error Messages

Topic	Measure	Element	Error Message	Explanation
Demographics		Last Name	Critical Error! Missing value.	The last name is blank and the tool will not save the changes until this situation is fixed.
DM	DM-2	HbA1c Value	Outside of range. Must be between 0 and 25.	The HbA1c value is outside of acceptable range.
HF	HF-6 & HF-7	ACE-I/ARB Drug	Inconsistent with similar element: CAD ACE-I/ARB	This indicates that the values of ACE-I/ARB elements under the HF and CAD topics are different. This message appears with another error message pointing to the same inconsistency but originating from CAD-7. Once this issue is resolved, both messages will no longer appear. See the topic on Synchronized Elements for more information about this error and other errors related to elements checked for consistency.

Sample Warning Messages

Topic	Measure	Element	Error Message	Explanation
CAD		CAD Confirmed	'Med. Rec. Not Found' selected and is inconsistent with: DM HF PC	The value of CAD confirmation element is "Med. Rec. Not Found" and it indicates that the patient's chart could not be found. However, the confirmation elements of DM, HF and PC topics are set to either "Yes", "No" or "No - Med. Reasons" suggesting that the patient's chart exist. This is a conflicting situation because it is assumed that once a patient's chart is not found no information could be gathered on any clinical topics and all of the confirmation elements should be set to "Med. Rec. Not Found". The option "Med. Rec. Not Found" in the confirmation elements of the topics are meant to be used only if the patient's chart is not available.
PC	PC-1	Weight	Missing value. Visit on 07/10/2007.	The value for the BP column is missing. This is an every-visit measure and the issue is with one of the visits. The date 07/10/2007 is only an example.