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docs(mimic-iv): add CHARTEVENTS_TIMING for charttime vs outtime
Explain why chartevents can fall after icustays.outtime (#1961). Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
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# Chartevents timing vs ICU stay windows
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Researchers often find `icu.chartevents.charttime` values **after**
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`icu.icustays.outtime` (or occasionally before `intime`). Large absolute counts
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are expected in the raw PhysioNet files and usually do **not** mean a broken
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`stay_id` join.
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See [issue #1961](https://github.com/MIT-LCP/mimic-code/issues/1961).
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## Why charttime can fall outside `[intime, outtime]`
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1. **Late charting.** Nurses and devices often document observations after the
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patient has left the ICU; the row still carries the ICU `stay_id`.
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2. **Device / interface clocks.** Bedside monitors and EHR interfaces may stamp
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times that disagree slightly with ADT `intime`/`outtime`.
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3. **Derived stay boundaries.** `icustays` windows are constructed from
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transfer / careunit logic; charted data is not clipped to those windows in
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the ETL that loads the CSV files.
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The public tables do not expose a "manual vs automatic" provenance flag for
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each `charttime`.
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## Practical guidance
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- Treat `icustays.intime` / `outtime` as the **administrative** ICU window.
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- For "in-ICU only" cohorts, filter explicitly, e.g.
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`charttime >= intime AND charttime <= outtime`, and report how many rows you
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dropped.
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- Prefer a sensitivity analysis that also keeps a short post-`outtime` grace
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period (e.g. 1–6 hours) when studying labs or vitals that are often charted
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late.
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- Do **not** rewrite `outtime` from the latest `charttime` inside the PhysioNet
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loaders — that belongs in a documented derived concept if you need it.
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## Related notes
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- ED module: `mimic-iv-ed/docs/TIMING_NOTES.md` (`edstays.intime` vs pyxis)
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- Lab / OMR unit caveats: `mimic-iv/buildmimic/TABLE_NOTES.md` when present

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