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What Is an ORU Message?

October 5th, 2006 by HL7 Standards Print Friendly

HL7 terms to better understand what is HL7. In the HL7 Standard, an Observation Result (ORU) is usually in response to an order and provides clinical observations.

In HL7 messaging, ORU messages provide structured patient-oriented clinical data between systems (e.g., EKG results to a physician’s office). ORU messages also can be used for linking orders and results to clinical trials (e.g., new drugs or new devices).

Clinical observations can include:

  • Clinical laboratory results
  • Imaging studies (i.e., text)
  • EKG pulmonary function studies
  • Interpretation

Related posts:

  1. What Is an ORM Message?
  2. What Is an ADT Message?
  3. What Are the HL7 Message Types?
  4. What Are the Components of an HL7 Message?
  5. What Is the HL7 Standard?
  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/06/27/what-is-an-obx/ What Is an OBX?

    [...] In HL7 v2.x, the OBX is a segment used to transmit a single observation or observation fragment. It represents the smallest indivisible unit of a report. The principal mission of an OBX is to carry information about observations and results in report messages (i.e., ORU or MDM).  [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/08/10/how-do-hl7-and-xml-coexist-in-clinical-interfacing/ How Do HL7 and XML Co-Exist in Clinical Interfacing?

    [...] Question: Do tools exist to help me map a HL7 version 2.4 ORU message into an XML formatted CCR document? [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/08/30/how-widely-adopted-is-hl7/ How Widely Adopted Is HL7?

    [...] For example, an EMR application running in a five physician office might use HL7 for lab results (ORU) but not for demographics (ADT), orders (ORM), or scheduling (SIU) messages at [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2006/10/18/how-do-i-send-a-binary-file-inside-of-an-hl7-message/ How Do I Send a Binary File Inside of an HL7 Message?

    [...] contents of the ORU message are “wide open” and everything from vital signs to dictated documents can be sent via [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2006/11/20/interface-challenge-patient-matching/ Interfacing Challenge: Patient Matching

    [...] on the requisition, the patient ID is entered into the LIS or RIS as part of the order. When the HL7 result message (ORU) is generated, the system would include the patient ID. At this stage, there are three [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/08/03/streamline-the-billing-workflow-with-hl7/ Streamline the Billing Workflow with HL7

    [...] ORU = Observation Result Unsolicited [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/09/10/variations-of-the-hl7-orur01-message-format/ Variations of the HL7 ORU^R01 Message Format

    [...] An imaging center (IC) is receiving some order messages (ORM^O01) from 2 external hospitals for which they complete the orders and send back transcribed [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/11/27/pdf-attachment-in-hl7-message/ PDF Attachment in HL7 Message

    [...] actual encoding of the document is often done via either a ED or RP datatype inside of an ORU message. Review these prior blog postings for [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2008/09/03/integrating-emrs-with-reference-labs/ Integrating EMRs with Reference Labs

    [...] challenges of using HL7 Orders and HL7 Results in a standard way — typically via profiling such as ELINCS profile (also described [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2008/01/25/comparing-hl7-messages-to-hl7-documents/ Comparing HL7 Messages to HL7 Documents

    [...] including updates to admissions or discharges (ADT), orders for tests (ORM), and test results (ORU). The more current the data, the more relevant it is in the delivery of patient care. HL7 messaging [...]

  • http://hl7standards.com/blog/2007/09/28/placer-order-number-vs-filler-order-number/ Placer Order Number vs. Filler Order Number

    [...] following is an HL7 messaging example of the ORC and OBR segments from an ORU message with the Filler Order Number in ORC-3 and OBR-3. [...]

  • http://www.neotool.com/blog/2006/10/05/what-is-an-oru-message/ What Is an ORU Message?

    [...] HL7 messaging, ORU messages provide structured patient-oriented clinical data between systems (e.g., EKG results to a [...]

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2007/06/27/what-is-an-obx/ What Is an OBX? | HL7 Standards

    [...] OBX is to carry information about observations and results in HL7 standard report messages (i.e., ORU or [...]

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2007/02/08/elincs-standard-laboratory-results-to-emrs/ ELINCS Standard: Laboratory Results to EMRs | HL7 Standards

    [...] ELINCS standard is based on the HL7 v2.4 messaging standard, specifically, the result message, ORU. It greatly reduces the complexity of the generic HL7 result message by restricting it. The [...]

  • praveen

    How can i use LOINC codes in HL7 messaging standard? I mean how can we use LOINC database?

  • http://www.corepointhealth.com Jon Mertz

    Some interface engine technology can transform custom codes to LOINC and vice versa. The codes can be placed into an HL7 message. Code set translation features exist within some interface engines. Similarly, database interaction can occur to pull codes into HL7 messages.

  • praveen

    Hi,

    How can i order a test using loinc codes. steps for ordering a test.

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2008/09/03/integrating-emrs-with-reference-labs/ Integrating EMRs with Reference Labs | HL7 Standards

    [...] challenges of using HL7 Orders and HL7 Results in a standard way — typically via profiling such as ELINCS profile (also described [...]

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2008/01/04/hl7-messages-in-healthcare-billing-environments/ HL7 Messages in Healthcare Billing Environments | HL7 Standards

    [...] transferred to billing are: ADT = Patient demographics DFT = Detailed financial transaction ORU = Observation result [...]

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2007/11/27/pdf-attachment-in-hl7-message/ PDF Attachment in HL7 Message | HL7 Standards

    [...] actual encoding of the document is often done via either an ED or RP datatype inside of an ORU message. Review these prior blog postings for [...]

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2007/08/03/streamline-the-billing-workflow-with-hl7/ Streamline the Billing Workflow with HL7 | HL7 Standards

    [...] ORU = Observation Result Unsolicited [...]

  • praveen

    What the implementor can do for implementing hl7. I mean if a product developed in java technology. Then how can we implement HL7 for that. Some basic HL7 implementation guides. We think lot of people have a confusion with HL7. Please clarify.

  • http://www.hl7standards.com/blog/2007/08/10/how-do-hl7-and-xml-coexist-in-clinical-interfacing/ How Do HL7 and XML Co-Exist in Clinical Interfacing? | HL7 Standards

    [...] Do tools exist to help me map a HL7 version 2.4 ORU message into an XML formatted CCR [...]

  • Nguyen Panther

    How is the structure of the message for EKG data which is also called waveform data?

  • Debashish_giri

    how radiology results such as DICOM files can be send by ORU 

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/wchadjohnson Chad Johnson

    It all depends on what the receiving system supports. You can take a DICOM image and base64 encode it and place it in OBX-5, but the receiving system must be able to decode the DICOM image after receiving it.

    Personally, I’ve never seen a system that supports DICOM images inside of an HL7 message – they may exist, but I doubt it. It’s more likely that the HL7 message only contains the raw image, such as a .tif or .pdf, base64 encoded in the OBX-5 field.

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