Purpose
The main reasons for adding descriptions in an extension are:
- To translate SNOMED CT into another language
- To add terms that are preferred or accepted within a local setting, for example
- Common clinical terms that facilitate searching for concepts
- Patient friendly terms
- To support the creation of new concepts in the extension, which each require at least two descriptions
Principles
Overview
As depicted in Figure 5.4.3.1-1, a description in an extension may refer to any concept in the same extension (Extension B), any concept in a module upon which the extension modules depend (Extension A), or any concept in the International Edition.
Figure 5.4.3.1-1: Descriptions can reference concepts in other modules on which the extension modules depend
Note that the green and orange triangles pointing to the purple circle represent a situation in which a description is added to an extension that describes an international concept. These extension descriptions supplement the descriptions that are already part of the International Edition.Adding Descriptions for a New Concept
Descriptions in SNOMED CT are represented in a description file. At least two descriptions must be created for each new concept in an extension:
- A description of type
|
Fully specified name|
(FSN)
- Note that all extension producers should create an unambiguous FSN in US English for each new concept. Additional FSNs may also be created to support other languages and dialects.
- A description of type | Synonym| , in either English or an alternative language
The acceptability of new descriptions must be specified in a language reference set.
Adding Fully Specified Names
The following principles apply to adding FSNs in an extension.
- There may be more than one active description with a typeId of
|
Fully specified name|
(FSN).
- However, only one FSN should be marked as preferred for use in a given language or dialect by a specific Language Reference Set.
- Every extension concept must have an unambiguous FSN in US English.
- The US English FSN is the point of reference for the meaning of all concepts in the SNOMED CT International Edition.
- The US English FSN is used to facilitate sharing and to resolve potential issues related to the interpretation of the meaning.
- Extensions producers are permitted to create a FSN in each of their native languages.
- This means that a non-English FSN may be marked as the preferred FSN in a specific language reference set in the extension.
- Consequently, a concept may have more than one FSN. However, only one may be preferred in a specific language reference set.
- Where a concept has only one active description with a typeId of | Fully specified name| across all language codes within a release, then that description can be assumed to be the FSN for all languages and dialects, and need not be explicitly included in every language reference set.
Adding Synonyms
- Unlike FSNs, synonyms are not necessarily unique between concepts, as the same term can be used to describe more than one concept.
- The preferred term is the synonym marked as preferred for use in the Language Reference
Set for a given language or dialect.
- There must be at least one description with a typeId of | Synonym| and an acceptabilityId value of | Preferred| for each concept associated with a description in a given language reference set.
Adding Descriptions to an Existing Concept
When a description is created in an extension, as part of a translation or to provide a localized synonym for an existing concept, a new row should be added in the relevant language reference set to indicate whether the description is | Preferred| or | Acceptable| in the given language or dialect.
Process
The table below provides a summary of the process to follow when adding new descriptions to an extension.
File Type | Process |
---|---|
Description | A new row which represents the new description is added to the description file. |
The attributes of the new description are set as follows:
| |
Language Reference Set | A new row (or member) is added to each relevant language reference set. |
The attributes of the new language reference set member are set as follows:
|
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