Discharge

discharge

The discharge table contains discharge summaries for hospitalizations. Discharge summaries are long form narratives which describe the reason for a patient’s admission to the hospital, their hospital course, and any relevant discharge instructions.

Links to

• discharge_detail on note_id

Table columns

Name	Postgres data type
note_id	VARCHAR(25) NOT NULL
subject_id	INTEGER NOT NULL
hadm_id	INTEGER NOT NULL
note_type	CHAR(2) NOT NULL
note_seq	INTEGER NOT NULL
charttime	TIMESTAMP NOT NULL
storetime	TIMESTAMP
text	TEXT NOT NULL

note_id

A unique identifier for the given note. note_id is composed of subject_id, the note_type (always two characters long), and a monotonically increasing integer, note_seq, in the following format: subject_id-note_type-note_seq.

subject_id

subject_id is a unique identifier which specifies an individual patient. Any rows associated with a single subject_id pertain to the same individual.

hadm_id

hadm_id is an integer identifier which is unique for each patient hospitalization.

note_type

The type of note recorded in the row. There are two types of note:

• ‘DS’ - discharge summary
• ‘AD’ - discharge summary addendum

note_seq

A monotonically increasing integer which chronologically sorts the notes within note_type categories. That is, notes can be ordered sequentially by note_seq.

charttime

The time at which the note was charted - this is usually the most relevant time for interpreting the content of the note, but it is not necessarily when the note was fully written.

storetime

The time at which the note was stored in the database. This is usually when the note was completed and signed.