PIT Format

See also:

The PIT file format is one of two industry standard formats used for the electronic transfer of investigation information such as pathology.

Clinical also supports the HL7 format for transferring investigation results. For more information on HL7 contact Standards Australia.

FILE FORMAT SPECIFICATION for QML/S&N Pathology Results Transfer - Version 07 - 1 July 1996

This document contains a description of the file layout used by Queensland Medical Laboratory (QML) and Drs Sullivan, Nicolaides and Partners (S&N) for pathology results transmissions.

The file has variable length records, in this document called lines.
Each line starts with a 3 digit code followed by a space.

Line codes ending in '9' are used as separators, either spaces or dashes.

Line codes

 

001 - 099

FILE HEADER

001 - 009

Source lab and run details

010 - 019

Surgery doctors index

020 - 029

Patients with results in this run

Line codes

 

100 - 399

RESULT REPORT INFORMATION

100 - 109

Patient details

110 - 119

Specimen/Medicare reference

120 - 129

Referring and Copy doctors

130 - 139

Hospital details

200 - 299

Result header

300 - 399

Result details

Line code

999

FILE TRAILER

PIT - Line Description

File Header

Line

Description

Content

Position

Size (bytes)

Format

Comments

001

Source lab heading

'QUEENSLAND MEDICAL LABORATORY PATHOLOGY REPORTS' or 'DRS SULLIVAN NICOLAIDES AND PARTNERS PATHOLOGY REPORTS'

05-

<control type>

62-63

2

Not used

<format version number>

64-65

2

'07'

<date of version>

67-76

10

'01/07/1996'

002

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

003

Report run detail 1

'Report Run Number :'

05-

<run number>

24-27

4

'Created:'

29-

<run date>

40-49

10

'at'

55-56

<run time>

61-68

8

HH:MM:SS

004

Report run detail 2

'Surgery'

05-

<surgery ID>

14-18

5

'Reports:'

21-

<report from date>

30-39

10

DD/MM/YYYY

<report from time>

41-48

8

HH:MM:SS

'to'

51-

<report to date>

55-64

10

DD/MM/YYYY

<report to time>

66-73

8

HH:MM:SS

<rerun indicator>

76

5

'Rerun' or <spaces>

006

Hospital run detail

'Hospital:'

05-

<hospital code>

17-

<=5

<hospital name>

32-64

32

009

End of heading lines

<dashes>

05-

010

Surgery doctor

<doctor name>

05-36

32

<title> <Initial>> <Surname>> (QML)
<title> <1st name> <Initial> <Surname> S&N

<code>

40-

<=5

QML or S&N doctor code

<provider number>

50-

8

019

End of Surgery doctors

<dashes>

05-

020

Patient heading line

'Your ref.'

05-

'Patient Name'

17-

'Lab Ref.'

48-

'Test'

64-

021

Patient detail

<your reference>

05-

<=12

<patient name>

17-

<=32

<Surname>,<christian name>

<lab reference>

48-

<=12

<test performed>

64-

029

End of patient heading

<dashes>

05-

RESULT REPORT INFORMATION

Line

Description

Content

Position

Size (bytes)

Format

Comments

100

Patient name

'Start Patient :'

05-

<patient name>

27-

<=32

<Surname>,<christian name> <initial>

101

Patient Address

<street>,<town> <state> <pcode> or

QML

<street>,<town> <pcode>

27-

S&N

104

Birth details

'Birthdate:'

27-

<birthdate>

38-47

10

DD/MM/YYYY

'Age:'

52-55

<age prefix>

57

1

'Y', 'M' or 'D'

Y=years, M=months, D=days

<age>

58-60

3

Age in years, months or days

'Sex:'

64-67

<sex>

69

1

'F' or 'M'

105

Patients phone number

'Telephone:'

27-

<telephone number>

38-

16

109

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

110

Surgery/Hospital reference

'Your Reference :'

05-

<reference number>

27-

<=16

111

Laboratory reference

<lab>' Reference :'

05-

<lab> = "QML" or "S&N"

<reference number>

27-

<=16

112

Medicare number

'Medicare Number:'

05-

<medicare number>

27-

10

115

Phone Enquiries

'Phone Enquiries:'

05-

<consulting pathologist>

27-

<=32

<Initial> <Surname>(/<Initial> <Surname>..)

<phone number>

60-

<=12

119

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

121

Referring doctor

'Referred by :'

05-

<doctor name>

27-

<=32

<title> <initial> <Surname> (QML)

<title> <1st name> <init.> <Surname> (S&N)

122

Copy doctor

'Copy to :'

05-

<doctor name>

27-

<=32

<title> <initial> <Surname> (QML)

<title> <1st name> <init.> <Surname> (S&N)

123

Receiving doctor

'Addressee :'

05-

Initially only used by S&N

<doctor name>

27-

<=32

<title> <initial> <Surname> (QML)

<title> <1st name> <init.> <Surname> (S&N)

<provider number>

61-

8

129

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

130

Hospital ward

'Ward :'

05-

<ward>

27-

<=32

131

Automatic ward print

'Auto ward print:'

05-

<print indicator>

27-

1

"Y" or "N"

139

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

RESULT HEADER

Line

Description

Content

Position

Size (bytes)

Format

Comments

200

Result header

'Start of Result:'

05-

201

Specimen type

'Specimen :'

05-

Not used by S&N

<specimen type>

27-

203

Request date

'Requested :'

05-

<Request date>

27-

10

DD/MM/YYYY

204

Collection date

'Collected :'

05-

<Collection date>

27-36

10

DD/MM/YYYY

<Collection time>

39-43

5

HH:MM

205

Test name

'Name of Test :'

05-

<test name>

27-

206

Report date & time

'Reported :'

05-

<Report date>

27-36

10

DD/MM/YYYY

<Report time>

39-43

5

HH:MM

207

Confidentiality indicator

'Confidential :'

05-

<confidential indicator>

27-

1

"Y" or "N"

208

Test category

'Test Category :'

05-

<category indicator>

27-

1

"R" = Routine, "U" = Urgent

209

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

210

Normal result indicator

'Normal Result :'

05-

<normal result indicator>

27-

1

"Y" or "N"

211

Requested Tests

'Requested Tests:'

05-

<tests>

27-100

Free form

212

Request complete indicator

'RequestComplete:'

05-

<request complete indicator>

27-

1

"Y" or "N"

'Y' if this report completes tests requested.

299

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

RESULT DETAILS

Line

Description

Content

Position

Size (bytes)

Format

Comments

301

Result line

<results>

05-



Free form

309

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

311

Cumulative result line

<results>

05-

Free form

319

Blank line

<spaces>

05-

390

End of report this patient

'End of Report :'

05-

399

End of Report separator

<dashes>

05-

Line codes 100 - 399 are repeated for each patient results.

FILE TRAILER

Line

Description

Content

Position

Size (bytes)

Format

Comments

999

End of file

'END OF LISTING - Run Number:'

05-

Details repeated from file header.

<run number>

33-36

4

<run date>

39-48

10

DD/MM/YYYY

<run time>

51-58

8

HH:MM:SS

Control Commands

In the report, control commands can be embedded and will have the following format:

<tilde><control command>(<control command>...)<tilde>

where

<tilde> = '~'
<control command> = 4 character command

One or more control commands can occur between the tildes. The control commands required initially are :

FGnn = Set foreground (text) colour to nn

where

nn = numeric value 00 - 99
04 = Red * (see note below)
99 = Default
SBLD = Start bold
EBLD = End bold
SUND = Start underline
EUND = End underline

Full list of colour codes are given below, but initially only red and "default" is required.

Example 1:

~FG04~WARNING~FG99~
(display/print WARNING in red, then switch back to default colour)

Example 2:

~FG04SBLD~RED AND BOLD~FG99EBLD~
(display/print RED AND BOLD in red and bold, then switch to default colour and end bold)


The red colour (FG04) is in the S&N reports used for highlighting purposes, and can be replaced by other highlighting such as bold, underline and so forth if so chosen.

Following control commands may be required in the future and are included here only as information. If any of the commands below are in fact going to be used you are updated well in advance of implementation date.

BGnn = Set background colour to nn

where nn = numeric value 00 - 99 as defined below

FOff = Set font to ff

where ff = numeric value 00 - 99 yet to be defined

PIpp = Set pitch to pp

where pp = numeric value 00 - 99 yet to be defined

SBLK = Start blinking

EBLK = End blinking

Colour codes (nn) used for the FGnn and BGnn commands are :

00 = Black

06 = Brown

12 = Light Red

01 = Blue

07 = Light Grey

13 = Light Magenta

02 = Green

08 = Dark Grey

14 = Yellow

03 = Cyan

09 = Light Blue

15 = White

04 = Red

10 = Light Green

05 = Magenta

11 = Light Cyan

99 = Default

Example of PIT File

Example of file transfer layout

In the following example the spacing between content items differs from a printed or imported result. This is due to the limitations of the HTML language used to prepare this example for publication in the Help System.




001 DRS SULLIVAN NICOLAIDES AND PARTNERS PATHOLOGY REPORTS 07 01/07/1996
002
003 Report Run Number: 24 Created: 01/08/1996 at 12:40:23
004 Surgery: 09111 Reports: 31/07/1996 12:11:23 to 01/08/1996 12:40:23
009 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
010 Dr Tomas C Testing TCT03 1034572J
019 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
020 Your Ref. Patient Name Lab Ref. Test
021 230462123 PATIENT,PETER 123-456789 BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE
029 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
100 Start Patient : PATIENT,PETER
101 12 EASY ST, HOME TOWN QLD 4567
104 Birthdate: 20/05/1945 Age: Y51 Sex: M
105 Telephone: 07 3333 4444
109
110 Your Reference : 230462123
111 S&N Reference : 123-456789
112 Medicare Number: 1456733421
115 Phone Enquiries: B CAMPBELL/T GAFFNEY 07-3778666
119
121 Referred by : Dr Tomas C Testing
122 Copy to : Dr Conrad P Copydoctor
123 Addressee : Dr Tomas C Testing 1034572J
129
200 Start of Result:
201 Specimen :
203 Requested : 31/07/1996
204 Collected : 31/07/1996 12:00
205 Name of Test : BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE
206 Reported : 01/08/1996 08:34
207 Confidential : N
208 Test Category : R
209
210 Normal Result : Y
211 Requested Tests: BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE, SECTION
212 RequestComplete: N
299
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
301 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
309
311 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
311 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
311 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
311 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
319
390 End of Report :
399 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
999 END OF LISTING - Run Number: 24 01/08/1996 12:40:23