The Northern Health (NH) data holdings catalog has been published to aid health care professionals interested to undertake research in the Northern Health region.
Data holdings listed may be available to NH approved research studies (where ethical, operational and privacy requirements have been fulfilled) and where authorized through NH policy and applicable legislation. The Research in Northern Health webpage contains further details about the research process at NH.
Hospital care
The NH acute care admission, discharge and transfer data holding includes all admission, discharge and transfer demographic information obtained when a patient registers for services in acute care settings. This data holding captures the path of the patient throughout the hospital.
Types of care
- Inpatient, outpatient
Data content
- Clinical, demographic
Data availability period
- 2007 through 2011 (depending on site go-live) to current
The NH acute care and surgical day care discharge data holding contains demographic, administrative, clinical and service-specific data elements for hospital acute care and surgical day care discharges.
The Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) is a national database that contains information on separations from acute care facilities including discharges, deaths, sign-outs and transfers.
As a core database at Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the DAD feeds other databases (i.e., inpatient acute, chronic and rehabilitation) and day procedures across Canada.
Although some jurisdictions across Canada (including NH) are collecting day surgery activity using the DAD, the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS) was developed to accommodate day surgery activity as well. Levels of care 0 (acute), 1 (day surgery), and 4 (free-standing rehabilitation facility) are mandatory to report to CIHI. Please see the NH emergency, ambulatory care and outpatient clinic section for more information on NH data. Data are submitted by the hospitals to CIHI, which in turn provide the data to the BC Ministry of Health.
This data can be used to compare against sites across Canada, as it follows coding standards used by all hospitals.
To request data from CIHI, please complete this Access Data Inquiry Form.
Requests for DAD data outside of NH should be directed to CIHI, Ministry of Health (MoH) Health Data Platform (HDP) or PopDataBC.
Types of care
- Clinical and hospital care
Data content
- Inpatient, newborn, day surgery
Data availability period
- April 1, 2001 to current
The NH clinical data repository receives messages from source systems that are mapped into our clinical information model using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) Standard. This process links them to a single patient identifier, providing two key benefits:
- A patient's entire journey is mapped to their repository ID regardless of the source system it occurs in.
- Our information is mapped to a standard removing the need to interpret how it was entered into a specific source system.
This repository includes mapping of FHIR resources and the programs where each one of them is being captured, including: Acute care information, primary care information, and home and community care information.
The following information model is part of the repository mapping of FHIR resources captured to date:
- Patient
- Immunization
- Encounters
- Health care services
- Appointment
- Episode of care
- Service request
- Organization
- Practitioner
- Practitioner role
- Location
- Person
- Medication administration
- Condition
- Questionnaire
- Questionnaire response
Types of care
- All types of care that a patient receives in a NH facility are potentially available
Data content
- Multiple source systems
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
Listed as a data holding on the Ministry of Health HDP, NACRS contains administrative, clinical, demographic data and service-specific data elements for ambulatory care visits in Canada. CIHI receives data directly from participating hospitals.
NACRS is a national database that contains information on emergency and ambulatory care, including day surgery for some health organizations and outpatient clinic visits. Patient visit data is collected at the time of service in participating facilities.
To request this type of data from CIHI, please complete this Access Data Inquiry Form. Requests for NACRS data outside of Northern Health should be directed to the Ministry of Health HDP or PopDataBC.
Types of care
- Clinical and hospital care
Data content
- Ambulatory care and emergency department services
Data availability period
- April 2012 to current
The NH emergency department data holding is used to triage, track, and document all patients within the emergency department in certain NH facilities.
Types of care
- Clinical and hospital care
Data availability period
- 2002 to current
The NH inpatient, day surgery and emergency abstracting data holding uses an abstracting software that enables collection of inpatient and day surgery visits for Northern Health hospitals, emergency visit data for University Hospital of Northern BC, and submits to CIHI.
Each new occurrence for a patient service, provider, diagnosis, intervention, Special Care Unit (SCU), and project will be listed in sequential order.
Types of care
- Inpatient, outpatient, emergency
Data content
- Clinical, demographic
Data availability period
- April 1, 2001 to current
The NH laboratory data holding houses laboratory order data including the test type, collection and verification dates, and priority status for all NH laboratory departments except anatomical pathology.
Types of care
- Inpatient, outpatient
Data content
- Clinical, demographic
Data availability period
- 2019 to current
The NH Perinatal data holding contains data abstracted from obstetrical and neonatal medical records that have occurred in the health authority. This perinatal data holding consists of a mixture of NH data (births in our hospitals and births out of our hospitals). The perinatal data holding captures data for both the mother (delivery episode, postpartum transfer/readmissions less than or equal to 42 days) and the baby (baby newborn episode, baby transfer/readmissions less than or equal to 28 days).
Perinatal Services BC (PSBC) Health Hub houses the provincial perinatal database, which consists of data collected from obstetrical facilities as well as births occurring at home attended by BC registered midwives. Perinatal Services BC (PSBC) Health Hub supports healthcare providers, leaders, researchers and policymakers in their work to improve maternal, fetal and neonatal health.
Perinatal data is collected from facilities throughout the province and imported into the central BC Perinatal Data and Research, which includes data on nearly 100% of births that occur in British Columbia (BC); however, this provincial repository is not maintained by NH.
Requests for BC Perinatal Data and Research data outside of NH should be directed to the appropriate Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) department or the Ministry of Health (MoH) Health Data Platform (HDP) or PopDataBC.
Types of care
- Inpatient, newborn
Data content
- Inpatient, newborn
Data availability period
- 2000 to current
The NH radiology data holding includes information related to medical imaging procedures such as X-Rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams, computerized tomography (CT) exams and ultrasound (US) exams. It also includes the related information of recorded observations, conditions and service requests. The data is in four separate tables for ease of use: All exams, MRI exams, CT exams and US exams.
Types of care
- Inpatient, outpatient
Data content
- Clinical, demographic
Data availability period
- 2007 through 2011 (depending on site go-live) to current
The NH surgery data holding includes information related to University Hospital of Northern BC (UHNBC) procedures performed for treatment.
Types of care
- Inpatient, outpatient
Data content
- Clinical, demographic
Data availability period
- 2013 to current (UHNBC)
Primary and community care
The NH clinical data repository receives messages from source systems that are mapped into our clinical information model using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) Standard. This process links them to a single patient identifier, providing two key benefits:
- A patient's entire journey is mapped to their repository ID regardless of the source system it occurs in.
- Our information is mapped to a standard removing the need to interpret how it was entered into a specific source system.
This repository includes mapping of FHIR resources and the programs where each one of them is being captured, including: Acute Care information, Primary Care information, and Home and Community Care information.
The following information model is part of the repository mapping of FHIR resources captured to date:
- Patient
- Immunization
- Encounters
- Health care services
- Appointment
- Episode of care
- Service request
- Organization
- Practitioner
- Practitioner role
- Location
- Person
- Medication administration
- Condition
- Questionnaire
- Questionnaire response
Types of care
- All types of care that a patient receives in a NH facility are potentially available
Data content
- Multiple source systems
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
This data holding includes a suite of assessment tools NH uses in primary and community care and LTC homes, with measurements based on benchmarks from the BC MoH. The information collected is used to create a person-centered care plan and highlights potential service options. The clinical information collected is also used by NH and the BC MoH for program planning and quality improvement. A summary of collected clinical information is publicly reported through CIHI.
InterRAI is a collaborative network of researchers, gerontologists and healthcare professionals in more than 30 countries. InterRAI is a non-profit group committed to improving healthcare for the frail, elderly and disabled. They develop clinical data standards and associated outputs and share the results of analysis and research.
The BC MoH has mandated the use of RAI for all primary and community care and LTC home clients in BC. RAI is an internationally recognized tool used in over 30 countries worldwide.
Please see CIHI to obtain Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS) data for clients in LTC and also the Continuing Care Reporting System and RAI-MDS 2.0 for more information.
Types of care
- Primary and community care, long-term care homes
Data content
- Clinical
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
The NH electronic medical record data holding is used in Medical Administration sites, public health sites and regional services delivery area sites.
This data holding includes data for:
- Demographics
- Determinants of health
- Encounters
- Measures
- Imaging
- Consults
- Procedures
- Family history
- Allergy/Intolerances
- Long-term medications
- Prescriptions
- MAR
- Documents
- Health issues
- Care plan
- Forms
- Orders
- Facility admissions
- Notifications
Types of care
- Primary and community care
Data content
- Clinical, demographic
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
Home and community services
The NH clinical data repository receives messages from source systems that are mapped into our clinical information model using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource (FHIR) Standard. This process links them to a single patient identifier, providing two key benefits:
- A patient's entire journey is mapped to their repository ID regardless of the source system it occurs in.
- Our information is mapped to a standard removing the need to interpret how it was entered into a specific source system.
This repository includes mapping of FHIR resources and the programs where each one of them is being captured, including: Acute Care information, Primary Care information, and Home and Community Care information.
The following information model is part of the repository mapping of FHIR resources captured to date:
- Patient
- Immunization
- Encounters
- Health care services
- Appointment
- Episode of care
- Service request
- Organization
- Practitioner
- Practitioner role
- Location
- Person
- Medication administration
- Condition
- Questionnaire
- Questionnaire response
Types of care
- All types of care that a patient receives in a NH facility are potentially available
Data content
- Multiple source systems
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
This data holding allows NH employees to manage client care, book home visits, export payroll and billing data from visits, and report to external groups including the MoH for registration, rate settings and other operational functions, and is designed on the "One Client - Multiple Departments" model.
Data in this holding can allow users to understand the impact of data elements on the operational service planning, bed planning, rate settings, billing processes, MoH/CIHI reporting, and Management Information Systems (MIS) Financial statistics collection. It also involves understanding about client services related to data entry, departments and flow.
Types of care
- Home support, residential care, assisted living (home and community services)
Data content
- Demographic, appointments
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
This data holding includes a suite of assessment tools NH uses in primary and community care and LTC homes, with measurements based on benchmarks from the BC MoH. The information collected is used to create a person-centered care plan and highlights potential service options. The clinical information collected is also used by NH and the BC MoH for program planning and quality improvement. A summary of collected clinical information is publicly reported through CIHI.
InterRAI is a collaborative network of researchers, gerontologists and healthcare professionals in more than 30 countries. InterRAI is a non-profit group committed to improving healthcare for the frail, elderly and disabled. They develop clinical data standards and associated outputs and share the results of analysis and research.
The BC MoH has mandated the use of RAI for all primary and community care and LTC home clients in BC. RAI is an internationally recognized tool used in over 30 countries worldwide.
Please see CIHI to obtain Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS) data for clients in LTC and also the Continuing Care Reporting System and RAI-MDS 2.0 for more information.
Types of care
- Primary and community care, long-term care homes
Data content
- Clinical
Data availability period
- Availability is determined per source
Population and public health
This data holding gathers COVID-19 data from the various systems throughout NH and manual entry.
Combines public health, source systems and acute care information together.
The following data is available:
- COVID-19 case statistics
- COVID-19 tests
- Isolations
- Call centre – Calls and virtual visits
- COVID – Hospitalizations
Types of care
- Infection control, communicable disease control
Data content
- Clinical
Data availability period
- February 2, 2020 to current