Building a Web Based Health Data Search Tool Using DDI

The Ontario Population Health Index of Databases (OPHID) is an index of a wide variety of quantitative information sources for and about Ontario (Canada) that reflect both the state of the health of its populations and possible explanatory variables. OPHID is a rich information resource for health researchers. The collection represents a vast improvement for the availability of metadata for health data in Ontario (and Canada as whole), where health data are often disparately collected, poorly documented, and not available or known to the public. Researchers in population health and the health sciences increasingly require high-quality health data, especially as health research becomes more evidence-based and measure-driven. This comprehensive index of health data utilizes the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI-Codebook) standard to document and describe data of varying kinds. Data sources that are of a survey, clinical, and administrative nature are described using a core set of DDI fields, with some degree of difficulty arising around consistency across the kinds of data. This presentation will provide an overview of the OPHID project goals and objectives, while focusing on the technical implementation and process by which datasets are described and marked up using the DDI standard. OPHID is a joint collaboration among the Ontario Council of University Libraries, Scholars Portal, and the Population Health Improvement Research Network (PHIRN).