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An encounter encompasses the lifecycle from pre-admission, the actual encounter (for ambulatory encounters), and admission, stay and discharge (for inpatient encounters). During the encounter the patient may move from practitioner to practitioner and location to location. Reference Table: The encounter_references table contains normalized references from the encounter to other entities. It supports the following reference properties:
  • subject (required): links to the patient involved in the encounter
  • participant.individual: links to practitioners and other participants in the encounter
  • location.location: links to locations where the encounter occurred
  • diagnosis.condition: links to condition outcomes from the encounter
For detailed information about reference table structure and indexing, see the Reference Tables documentation. Encounter Table: Primary Keys:
  • encounter_id
Foreign Keys:
  • patient_id
ColumnData TypeDescription
encounter_idvarcharUnique identifier for the encounter
patient_idvarcharUnique identifier for the patient
statusvarcharStatus of the encounter. Possible values:
– planned: The encounter has not yet started.
– arrived: The patient is present for the encounter, but the encounter has not yet begun.
– triaged: The patient has been assessed for the priority of care.
– in-progress: The encounter has begun and the patient is present.
– onleave: The patient has temporarily left, but is expected to return.
– finished: The encounter has ended.
– cancelled: The encounter has been cancelled before it started.
– entered-in-error: The encounter was entered in error and should not be considered valid.
– unknown: The status of the encounter is unknown or cannot be determined.
start_datedateStart date of the encounter
end_datedateEnd date of the encounter
length_of_stayintegerLength of stay in days
act_codevarcharACT code for encounter class
act_displayvarcharHuman-readable description of ACT code
source_class_codevarcharSource class code for encounter
source_class_displayvarcharHuman-readable description of source class
source_class_systemvarcharOriginal class system from source system
type_hl7_codevarcharHL7 encounter type code
type_hl7_displayvarcharHuman-readable description of HL7 encounter type
source_type_codevarcharOriginal type code from source system
source_type_displayvarcharOriginal type display from source system
source_type_systemvarcharOriginal type system from source system
discharge_disposition_hl7_codevarcharHL7 discharge disposition code
discharge_disposition_hl7_displayvarcharHuman-readable description of discharge disposition
data_sourcevarcharSource of the encounter data