State Data Dictionary - North Dakota Department of Health

Version 2.0 09/18/2007North Dakota Electronic EMS ReportingHistory of SOAR:A North Dakota Department of Health, Division of EMS (NDEMS) data committee consisting ofrepresentatives from the NDEMS, the trauma registry, and field providers created the StateOnline Ambulance Reporting (SOAR) dataset in 2004. Originally consisting of 91-elements theSOAR dataset provided data collection to the NDEMS for 3 years. The NDEMS early on wascommitted to participation in NEMSIS and developed their system during the early years ofNEMSIS conception. There was no way the NDEMS could fully anticipate the final NEMSISprocess as it matured two years later. This version 2 of the SOAR data dictionary incorporatesthe NEMSIS national data elements along with some of the original data elements that theNDEMS requires to provide adequate monitoring and reporting of Emergency Medical Services(EMS) activity in the State of North Dakota.NEMSIS Explanation:In 2001 the National Association of EMS Directors in conjunction with the National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Trauma/EMS systems program of HealthResources and Services Administration (HRSA) agreed to develop a national EMS database.From this agreement the NEMSIS project was grown. In 2003 the member states initiated amemorandum of understanding stating that they “recognized the need for EMS data collection atthe national level” and agreed to abide by the assignment of “specific definitions to a set of dataelements identified as desirable to be collected on a national level”. Between 2003 and 2005 theNEMSIS project developed an EMS and demographic dataset compiling them into a databookwith a defined Extended Markup Language (XML) schema to facilitate transport of the databetween systems. The databook consists of two datasets; the first is referred to as thedemographic dataset. This dataset collects information on the submitting agency, their vehicles,personnel, stations, medical equipment, protocols and medical direction. The second is referredto as the EMS dataset and collects information on the event or patient encounter. The elementscan be used to build an extensive patient care report for medical reporting purposes as well asdata collection. The current databook includes over 400 data elements that are recommended tobe included in an EMS data collection system and are also referred to as the Gold set. Knowingthe difficulty in collecting this many elements from end users, NEMSIS has created a subset ofthe data elements known as “National Data Elements” also referred as the Silver set. The Silversubset consists of a total of 83 elements, 67 elements (13 mandatory) in the EMS dataset and 16elements (8 mandatory) in the demographic dataset. NEMSIS and NHTSA require that states atminimum must collect the “National Data Elements” for submission to the national EMSdatabase. In April of 2006 the final release of the NEMSIS databook was published andsoftware vendor compliance testing initiated. NEMSIS and NHTSA are now requesting states tosubmit their data to the national EMS database.NEMSIS is attempting to remove the difficulty for EMS software vendors in conductingbusiness in multiple regions or states. The movement to an accepted standardized datadictionary and XML with a standardized format removes the complaints of software vendors inmodifying their software between customers in different regions or states. NEMSIS offers freecompliance tools and certification process for vendors to become NEMSIS compliant. ThesePage 6Copyright 2006-2007, North Dakota Department of Health, Division of EMS & Med-Media, Inc.