Figure 2. Main sections of COMPURSE program for selecting parameters and for computing relative standard errors (RSEs), standard errors (SEs), and confidence intervals (CIs) for annual totals and average annual totals of multiple-year summaries.

This flow chart illustrates the second part of the COMPURSE program, which is a SAS program (version 6.12 or later) that searches for the appropriate parameter from the transformed tables and calculates the corresponding point estimates, SEs, and CIs by year, type of statistic, hospital and demographic category, and characteristics or groups. Depending on year, the program distinguishes the kind of RSE parameters (percentages or function coefficients) and the characteristics with specific parameters from those without specific parameters (e.g., “ALLOTHER” before 1988 or “TOTAL” during or after 1988). COMPURSE merges user-specified data and the corresponding RSE parameter tables to look up specific values in the parameter tables. COMPURSE also provides another option to compute average annual totals for multiple years and their SEs and CIs (based on the third set of transposed parameter tables for years before 1988 or the function coefficients for 1988 and thereafter). The methods for computing these latter multiple-year averages are described in the NCHS documentation for the NHDS 1979–2000 data.

Volume 2: No. 3, July 2005