This section describes the data elements that Vocera requires in the ADT data feed.
Patients
A patient should be uniquely identifiable across the entire health system (especially in multi-facility health systems) as well as across multiple visits/admissions. Typically health systems choose to use a patient account number, MRN, or other field as the patient identifier. The identifier must be unique. Failure to provide a unique identifier will result in improper capture of patient visits/admissions across health system facilities as well as multiple visits over time.
Location – Unit/Department
Vocera supports hospital locations at the unit/department level. The list of meaningful units/departments is specific to a facility and additional consideration must be given for multi-facility health systems as duplicate patient locations can exist across different facilities.
Patient Visits
Vocera uses ADT events to derive patient visit information. Vocera relies on being able to uniquely identify patients to properly identify a single inpatient visit/admission/encounter.