A finished HIM-370 Topic 2 data element trace example, following one composite laboratory result across systems and marking the handoff where its meaning is lost. Searches like "him 370 topic 2 assignment example", "him370 topic 2 sample" and "him-370 topic 2 example" land here.
What a finished HIM-370 Topic 2 data element trace looks like
The finished trace follows a composite potassium result from end to end. It starts at order entry, where the test is requested with a local order code, moves into the laboratory information system, where the specimen is received, run and resulted, and then returns to the EHR as a result message carrying the value, its units and a reference range. From there it is picked up by a data warehouse feed that builds a monthly quality report. At every handoff the trace records which system sends, which system receives, what identifier travels with the value and whether the code is local or standard. The break is found at the warehouse step: the result arrived coded locally, the report expected LOINC, and the values were excluded from the count without any error being raised.
How an HIM-370 Topic 2 example is structured
The trace is laid out as a chain of hops, one per system boundary. An opening line names the element and why it was chosen: a result that clinicians, the laboratory and the quality department each use for different purposes. The first hop covers order entry to the laboratory system, recording the order code and the patient identifier sent. The second covers the laboratory's own handling, where the specimen, the instrument and the verification step add data the order never carried. The third returns the result to the EHR, showing the value, units and reference range as they display to a clinician. The fourth follows the warehouse feed. Each hop closes by recording the element's condition on arrival. The last section identifies the hop where the element degraded, the reason it passed unnoticed and the system that would have to change to fix it.
One element chosen for its travels
A potassium result is picked because it is ordered in one system, produced in another, read in a third and counted in a fourth.
A hop for every boundary crossed
Each system boundary becomes its own step in the trace, with the sending system, the receiving system and the identifier carried recorded side by side.
Local codes and standard codes
The trace notes at every hop whether the test is identified by a local code or by LOINC, since that detail decides whether later systems recognize it at all.
A silent exclusion at the last step
Values coded locally were dropped from the quality report without an error message, so the report looked complete while it undercounted the composite results.
The fix assigned to a system
The closing section states which system's mapping must change, rather than asking staff downstream to correct the report by hand every month.
Where marks go in HIM-370 Topic 2
Traces drawn as a single arrow from one system to another lose the most, since the topic is about the handoffs and an arrow hides every one of them. A diagram of the whole hospital's data flow can look thorough and still never follow one value far enough to find a problem. Drafts often stop when the result reaches the clinician's screen, which misses the downstream uses where coding and mapping matter most. Papers that record the value but not the identifier traveling with it cannot show whether the result stayed attached to the right patient. Some examples find a break and blame the users, when the element degraded because of a mapping no user ever saw. A trace that names the break without naming the system that owns the fix leaves the finding with nowhere to go.
Get an HIM-370 Topic 2 example written to your instructions
Send the HIM-370 Topic 2 instructions, the rubric posted in your classroom and any data element or scenario your instructor assigned. We write a custom example to those criteria, with the element followed hop by hop, the identifier and coding recorded at each boundary and the point of degradation assigned to a system, in 24 to 48 hours. The first one costs nothing.
HIM-370 Topic 2 questions, answered
Which data element makes the best trace?
One that crosses several systems and is used for different purposes in each. A laboratory result, an allergy or a discharge disposition all work, because each is created in one place and consumed in others. A field that lives entirely inside one system, such as a nursing note, shows little. The trace picks the element first and the systems second, so the path is dictated by the data rather than chosen for convenience.
What does LOINC have to do with this?
LOINC provides standard identifiers for laboratory tests and observations, so two systems can agree that a result means the same test. Many laboratories still use local codes internally and map them to LOINC for exchange or reporting. Where that mapping is missing or wrong, a result can display correctly on screen yet remain unseen by any report expecting the standard code, which is the break this composite trace finds.
Is a data flow diagram required as well?
Many classrooms request one as well, and it can sit beside the trace as an overview. The diagram shows which systems connect; the trace shows what happens to one value on each connection. Where both are required, the diagram belongs near the start and the hop-by-hop record carries the analysis. A diagram alone rarely locates a failure, because it draws the connections without testing what crosses them.