Create A New Subset

These Instructions explain how to create a new subset in RMCDS. A Subset is a collection of cases taken from the master file. Creating subsets allows you to work with a part of the cases on the system instead of all of them. When you create a subset, the computer generates a file that tells the programs which patient abstract cases have been selected for the particular subset. Subsets can be used for report generation, patient follow up, case submission, and more. Subsets are generally created based on criteria that is common among cases. For example, you can create a subset of cases that were all diagnosed in the same year, or a subset of cases that all have the same primary site. You can even combine selection criteria and to get a subset of cases with a specific primary site, histology, class of case, sex, date of diagnosis, treatment, and vital status. With subsets you can specify exactly which cases you want to report on.

From the RMCDS Main Menu click on Subsets > New

This will open the Create a Subset Window

These instructions will describe the procedure for creating a subset and go through an example.

The first step in generating a subset is to determine what you are going to use as the source data for this subset. At the top of the window there is a section labeled Input Data.


There are three options for input data. The first option is Master File. Select this option if you want to search through all of the cases in your data base to create your subset. The second option is Subset. Select this option if you already have a subset of cases that you want to use in the creation of your new subset. The third option is Include All Cases in a subset. This allows you to create a subset containing all of the cases on your system.

Once you have decided on the source of the input data, it's time to choose the criteria for the Subset creation. Criteria selection is added to the subset by using the Item # box together with the Minimumand Maximum boxes.

There are different ways to select pull off criteria for your subset. The first way to select criteria is to simply type your data selection into the Item #, Min, Max, text boxes. If you know the Item # that you want to use and the valid minimum and maximum values you can type them into the boxes and press the Add Item button. The selected data items will appear in the selection display table.

Item Search
If you know what criteria you want to use in the subset creation, but don't know the Item #, you can use the Search feature to find the Item #. (Item #'s are based on the NAACCR item numbers.) Click on the Search button to open the Search for data items window.

In the box provided type in a key word for your search criteria. For example, to find the item number for PRIMARY SITE, you could type in PRIMARY, and click on the Find button. This will bring up a list of those data items that contain the key word PRIMARY.


To select PRIMARY SITE, double click on the NAACCR # associated with the ITEM WORD, in this case it is NAACCR # 400. The NAACCR # is inserted into the corresponding field in the Create a Subset window and the search for data item window closes. Notice that the Label and length for this item number are listed next to the Add Item button.


The next step in the data item selection is choosing a valid range of codes for this Item to include in your subset. This is done by using the Min and max buttons. To select Maximum and Minimum values for the Item # selected, you can simply type them in if you know them already, or you can search for them by clicking on the Help Min and Help Max buttons. Clicking on one of these buttons will bring up a lookup screen similar to on of the following:

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Some fields will have all the valid codes listed, as in the Lookup window for SEX. Other fields are too extensive to list all of the valid codes, such as primary site. For these fields there is a Find feature. In the box provided, type in part of the name that you would like to search for. For example, if you wanted to find the values for LUNG, you would type LUNG in the text line and then click on Find. This will bring up all valid codes for site Lung.


Double click on the corresponding code number to select that value. The lookup window will close and you will return to the Create a Subset Window. You can use this same procedure for both the Min and Max values.

Once the Item #, Min, and Max are entered, click on the Add item button. The selected variable will be added to the Selection Table in the center of the Create a Subset window
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You can continue adding items until you have the criteria you want for you subset.

The last method for searching for an Item number is to use the tree structure to the right of the window.

For example, if you wanted to select primary site, you would first click on the + symbol next to Cancer Identification, then double click on Primary Site. Notice that when you double click on Primary Site, the Item # is filled in for you in the Create a Subset Window. Select the Min and Max values using the Help Min and Help Max buttons as described above.

Additional Options
There are additional options that can be used in criteria selection. You can Exclude certain items from your pull-off, or combine items together for your subset by clicking the check boxes above the criteria list box. You also have the option to include Deleted cases in your pull off or you can include Deleted ONLY in your subset.

To use one of these options, put a check in the appropriate box after you have selected the Item # but before you click the Add Item button.

If you want to modify a field criteria after it has been added to the Selection Table, double click on the corresponding Item #. This will bring up a Change values for pull off window.

In this window you have the options to change the values entered in Item #, Min and Max. Also you can choose to Exclude this item, or to Delete this pull-off criteria, which will remove this variable from your Selection Table. When you are finished modifying your selection, click OK.

Saving, Loading, and Printing
At the top of the window, there is a pull down menu labeled File.

This pull down menu gives you the options to Save the criteria to a file, Append Criteria from a previously saved selection, and Print the current Criteria report.

To Save the current selection criteria, click on File > Save Criteria. This will bring up a standard save window. Type in a name for the criteria and press Save.

To Load a selection criteria click on File > Append Criteria. This will bring up a window from which you can select a subset criteria file that has previously been saved. At the bottom of this window you can select from two types of files.

Pull-off Files are those that have been saved using the procedure described above. Computer Generated Pull-off Files are criteria that have been used to create subsets but were not saved by the user. The Computer Generated Pull-off Files will have the same name as the Subset that they were used to create.
This feature is called Append Criteria because it can be used to add previously saved criteria to a new subset pull off. For example, if you were creating subsets with the same primary site, histology, grade, class of case, and sex but for individual years, you could Save a pull-off file with the values for primary site, histology, grade, class of case, and sex already entered. Then you would load that criteria with the Append Criteria option and only have to add DATE OF DIAGNOSIS for each year.

To Print a report with the criteria that you have selected for this Subset Pull-off. Click on File > Print Criteria Report. This will open the Print Options window from which you can Examine and Print the criteria. The item numbers, variable names, and minimum and maximum values will appear on the print out.

 

Output Subset Name

After you have selected the criteria for your subset, you need to enter a name for the subset you are creating. Type the name in the Output Subset box.

Be sure to give the subset a meaningful name so you can remember it. For example, you could name a subset "2000LUNG" for lung cases diagnosed in 2000.

Once you have finished entering all of the criteria for the subset and given the subset a name, click on the Run button at the bottom of the window. The subset will be created and you will see a Pull off report window listing details on this subset.

This window will give you a summary of the Subset Pull Off. You will see the data used to create the subset, (in our example it was the Master File), The generated subset name (test), the number of items selected in the search criteria, how many cases were searched, and how many cases were selected for this subset. It also shows when the pull off began and ended.

At the bottom of this window is the option to Print a listing of cases. If you want a listing report of the cases in this subset printed out, put a check in the Print a Listing of cases box before you click OK. To close this window and return to the Main Menu, click OK. The Pull off report window will close and your subset is now in the system ready for use.