Name - Data Element
The following information is only applicable to data elements.
Definition
A single or multi-word designation assigned to a data element.
Obligation
Mandatory completion.
Development rules
A data element is composed of the following:
Data element concept name+space+comma+space+Value domain name
For example, the concatenation of the data element concept Person—body height, and the value domain Total centimetres NN[N].N is: Person—body height, total centimetres NN[N].N
The name should be concise and indicative of the content of the data element.
Capital letters should only be used for the first letter of the object class name, proper nouns and within the value domain name component.
Commas should only be used to separate the data element concept name from the value domain name.
Full stops should only be used within the format term component of the value domain name.
Square and curly brackets (braces) should only be used within the format term component of the value domain name.
The data element concept name shall occupy the leftmost position.
The value domain name shall follow the data element concept name.
If any word in the union of the data element concept name and value domain name is made redundant either explicitly through the duplication of a word, or implicitly through another word or phrase, delete the redundant part within the value domain name component. For example, the union of the data element concept Person—sex and value domain Sex code N is Person—sex, code N. For data elements of all representation classes other than date and time, the representation class term component of the value domain name must not be deleted.
Hyphens (-) should only be used when two or more words are turned into a single compound word. Do not leave any spaces before or after the hyphen. For example, ‘on-call’, ‘waist-to-hip ratio’.
Do not include any of the following in a data element concept name:
- Quotation marks
- Colons (:)
Slashes (/) are permitted; do not include any spaces before or after the slash.