observation unit

obs_unt

general

Updated 3/30/2026

Definition

The unit of measure for the clinical value (e.g., mg/dL, mmol/L).

Standard Abbreviation

obs_unt

Database Usage

-- Example column naming
CREATE TABLE claims (
  clm_id VARCHAR(50),
  obs_unt VARCHAR(100),  -- observation unit (max 100 chars)
  ...
);

-- Example in SELECT
SELECT
  clm_id,
  obs_unt as observation_unit
FROM claims;

Common uses in healthcare data

Healthcare data warehouse schema design and modeling
Interoperability and cross-system data exchange
ETL pipeline development and orchestration
Master data management (MDM) programs
Analytics and business intelligence reporting

Example database column name

ISO-11179 snake_case standard

-- Recommended column name
obs_unt

-- Example DDL
CREATE TABLE healthcare_data (
  record_id   VARCHAR(50)   NOT NULL,
  obs_unt      VARCHAR(100),  -- observation unit (max 100 chars)
  created_dt  TIMESTAMP     NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
);

Column names follow the ISO-11179 naming convention: lowercase, underscore-separated, using the standard abbreviation as a prefix where applicable.

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