We are currently working on a great project designing and redesigning nursing and perioperative reports for a client. As we work to catalogue variables and data sources, design reports and create specifications I am reminded yet again of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) work.

The WHO team has created a fantastic ancillary tool to help them with the data that they do capture (which amazingly, is significant) – The WHO Indicator and Measurement Registry.

I cannot tell you how many times I see groups create duplicate variables because there is no way for people to easily find out what data is already being captured and exists in their databases and data warehouses. Or, how many times reports are nowhere near as powerful as they should be because the people requesting or creating the reports have no way of knowing what data is available to them.

A documentation system and a commitment to maintaining it’s not a “nice to have.” It’s a must have in the world of healthcare data. The WHO has got this one exactly right.

Check out the following example below or click here to try it out for yourself.

WHO website screenshot



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