Registration Standards

Registration standards have been created to ensure accurate, consistent and complete data is entered. 

Data quality and accuracy is crucial in the registration process.  Not only is the originating hospital affected, other hospitals as well as integrated systems can also be impacted. 

General Information

• Upper case/Caps Lock is discontinued in Expanse.

Information is to be entered using title case.  That is, first letter of each word is capitalized, except for certain small words. i.e., Major words capitalized. 

Exception- For sentences, proper sentence case structure is to be used. That is, first letter of sentence is capitalized.

Title case: Patient, Name

Sentence case: Patient is to arrive 20 minutes early for lab work prior to the visit.

• Place holder characters for unknown information are not to be used:

(.,!@#$%^&*() 

These entries as well as accents, i.e., é, è must not be used as these cause issues with interfaces. 

Patient Naming Conventions

Enter the patient’s documented/legal name, avoiding the use of initials, as follows: 

Last name

First name

Second name. If there are additional middle names, and if field spaces permit, these are to be separated by one space within the middle name field. 

The following are some examples of acceptable documentation to support the accurate completion of the patient name: 

• Valid provincial or territorial health card 
• Valid driver’s license or Ontario Photo Card
• Valid passport
• Canadian Citizenship Card
• Canadian Permanent Resident Card
• Certificate of Indian Status Card

Punctuation in the Name Field

Enter as seen on the health card or other acceptable document.  Periods <.>, hyphens <-> apostrophes <’>  and roman numeral are acceptable punctuation. 

Accents, i.e., é, è must not be used as these cause issues with interfaces. 

NOTE: Edits to the name field should not be performed unless the patient presents an updated health card or other acceptable document of proof of identity.

Patient Name Truncated         

The length of Last name, First name Middle name(s) combined may not be more than 30 characters.  More than 30 characters will generate the following error message:

Always complete as much of the last name as possible removing surname punctuation if necessary. Then complete first name followed by middle name(s) as space allows.

Patient with Quebec Health Card

Quebec patients are to be registered using their birth name.  Quebec health card (RAMQ) has the patient’s birth name on the first line and, if applicable, the married name on the second line. 

Avoid hyphenation of surnames unless this is the birth surname.

Patient with One Name

Enter the name in the both the Last name and First name fields:

Pre-Registered Newborn Name (Use Site Specific MRN prefix) 

Mother’s Surname,SA(site Specific MRN prefix) (Where SA represents single Newborn born at SA facility)

Mother’s Surname,SATWA, SATWB (Newborn twin A, Newborn twin B)

Mother’s Surname,SATRA, SATRB, SATRC (Newborn Triplet A, Newborn Triplet B, Newborn Triplet C)

Newborn Name (Single Birth)

Mother’s Surname,FC (or MC or UC). (Where FC represents female child, MC represents male child, UC represents Undifferentiated)

Newborn Name (Multiple Births)

Twins:   Mother’s Surname,FTWA (Female Twin A)

               Mother’s Surname,MTWB (Male Twin B)

Triplets: Mother’s Surname,FTRA (Female Triplet A)

                Mother’s Surname,MTRB (Male Triplet B)

                Mother’s Surname,UTRC (Undifferentiated Triplet C)

Unidentified Patient Name

Site prefix followed by Doe,John### or site prefix followed by Doe,Jane###.

i.e, NBRDoe,John123 or NBRDoe,Jane321. 

Code Orange Patient Name

Site prefix followed by Code,Orange###. i.e, NBRCode,Orange123. 

Other Patient Names

Other names –birth, maiden, alias/nicknames, preferred names-are to be recorded in the Other Names fields. 

Address

Enter the patient’s permanent (i.e., mailing) address. 

Exception:  Students who are temporarily living in the area while they attend college/university, enter the temporary, local address in the patient demographics, guarantor and subscriber screens. 

Canada Post guidelines are to be used as follows. Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) also follows these guidelines.

Standard Address

Line 1 – Enter the Civic Address

NOTE U.S. States are in the Province look up.

Address Format for Unit, Apartment, Suite

The identifier i.e. Apt, Unit, Suite, is not to be entered. 

Address with Institution

Line 1 – Enter the Institution name

Line 2 – Enter the Civic Address. Room number to be added.  However, identifier i.e. Apt, Unit, Suite, is not to be entered. 

PO Box

Line 1 – Enter the Civic Address

Line 2 – Enter the Post Office box number

PO Box, Institution, Civic Address

Line 1 – Enter the Institution name

Line 2 – Enter the Post Office box number, Civic Address (if needed, include room, apartment, suite)

Rural Route, Civic Address

Line 1 – Enter the Civic Address

Line 2 – Enter the Rural Route 

General Delivery and Station Address

Line 1 – General Delivery Identified (GD) and Station (STN) information 

(If there is a civic address, General Delivery/Station information should be entered on Line 2.)

International Address

Street Type Abbreviations

Full street type is to be entered or the following acceptable street type abbreviation. Punctuation (.) at the end of the abbreviation is not to be entered.

Address Punctuation

Punctuation within the address fields should not be used unless part of a proper name. i.e., St. John’s

Do not use any non-alphanumeric characters such as, but not limited to:

@ & / | \ ^ #

Address Homeless Patient (No Fixed Address)

Line 1: No Fixed Address. Do not enter NFA.      

City: Point of encounter i.e. North Bay/Sault Ste Marie/Parry Sound

Postal Code: NBZZ

Residence Code: Enter facility information for site.

Address Unknown

Line 1: Unknown                                                         

City: Point of encounter i.e. North Bay 

Postal Code: NBZZ

Residence Code: Enter facility information for site. i.e., North Bay

Health Care Num

All provincial/territorial health care numbers to be entered. DND (Department of National Defense/ Canadian Armed Forces) health card is not a provincial HCN.

OHIP Number: 10 digits or 10 digits hyphen 2 alpha upper case (version code).  i.e., 1234567890-AB

All other provinces/territories:  No spaces or hyphens to be used. Uppercase required for alpha characters.

Patient Phone Number

Patient phone number is entered in format 705-123-4567.  If there is an extension: 705-123-4567(space)x1234

Phone Number not Verified

Phone Number: 000-000-0000

Phone type: Unknown

No Phone

Phone Number: 000-000-0000

Phone type: None

Additional Addresses

Complete if the patient’s primary address is not local or if the patient is temporarily residing at an address other than their primary. Complete for jail patients. 

Contact Types

Patient Contact information is used by both Registration and Clinical staff. 

Registration Staff are to verify and enter, as applicable:

• Primary Contact. Only one contact name is to be entered. i.e., Mother and/or Father should not be recorded as Primary Contact.  This causes issues with interfaces.

• Secondary Contact
• Tertiary Contact
• Other Contact
• None
• Unknown

Contact Demographic Information Obtain contact address information when possible. Complete as much information as is known.  i.e., if only city is known and not address, complete city field and then enter the provincial mnemonic in postal code field. i.e.

Patient states they have no contact:

Unknown if patient has any contacts:

The following Contact Types require legal documentation and are now captured in Clinical Documentation modules, not in registration screens:

• Attorney for Personal Care 1
• Attorney for Personal Care2
• Attorney for Property1
• Attorney for Property2
• Consent & Capacity Board Rep
• Guardian of the Person 1
• Guardian of the Person 2
• Substitute Decision Maker

Guarantor and Subscriber 

Name and demographics on Guarantor and Subscriber screens must match patient exactly.

Providers

 Refer to site specific guidelines for use of Generic providers. I.e. No family provider or Unknown Family provider