SNOMED Documentation Search


Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

Anchor
_Toc397466877
_Toc397466877
Storing Clinical Records with SNOMED CT

Storing SNOMED CT encoded clinical records involves the storage of:

...

In most cases, the term selected by the user is also stored. The structural representation of stored clinical information is important. This must store similar information consistently, and the storage design must support effective querying.

Anchor
_Toc397466878
_Toc397466878
Binding and Mapping to SNOMED CT

User interfaces commonly restrict the data that can be selected by the user and stored. Electronic messages are also often constrained in terms of the permissible values that may be meaningfully included in each field. Decisions are made on whether some semantics, such as the priority for a procedure, is expressed in a reserved part of the message structure, or if it is expressed as part of the SNOMED CT expression within the message.

...

The implementer should balance the cost of developing and maintaining an inter-terminology map, with their target quality for that map. Unless an existing terminology scheme represents clinical ideas in a comparable way to SNOMED CT then a perfect (i.e. lossless and reversible) map may not be possible.

Anchor
_Toc397466879
_Toc397466879
Data Entry with SNOMED CT

Existing data entry interfaces may be modified to incorporate SNOMED CT in the required places, often as a direct replacement of another coding scheme.

...

SNOMED CT allows a level of precision of meaning that is rarely matched by the content of proprietary terminology systems. For this and other reasons, there may need to be modifications or enhancements to the user interface and how it allows users to search, enter and express clinical ideas.

Anchor
_Toc397466880
_Toc397466880
Maintaining SNOMED CT Enabled Products

Routine scheduled maintenance of EHRs is anticipated and supported by SNOMED CT, which also has a program of continuous improvement. Unlike some classification or coding schemes, SNOMED CT updates, adds and inactivates content where it is useful to do so.

...

  • Substituting a prior version of a subset with its more recent version, for example, in a data entry interface
  • Substituting an inactivated Concept with a suitable nominated replacement
  • Substituting an inactivated Term with a suitable alternative
  • Evaluating the impact to an existing subset
  • Updating of bindings and SNOMED CT queries

Anchor
_Toc397466881
_Toc397466881
Messaging with SNOMED CT

Implementation of SNOMED CT within a system is not always concurrent to the adjustment of external electronic clinical data flows. The design of the electronic message, and the definition of the data extract which is used to populate the message, may need to be modified to accommodate its SNOMED CT payload. Similarly to data storage, an electronic message may require the inclusion of:

...

  • Expressions composed of multiple codes
  • Identifiers for expressions which are held in an Expression Library

Anchor
_Toc397466882
_Toc397466882
Migrating Clinical Records between Systems

Some implementation strategies include the bulk migration of data between different versions of their system or between different systems. In this or similar circumstances, the tasks of data Extraction, Transformation and subsequent Loading ['ETL'] are performed.

...

  • As a single SNOMED CT coded item
  • As a SNOMED CT expression comprising two or more SNOMED CT concepts, one of which gives the context of Family History
  • By representing the 'family history' via a dedicated table within the storage schema reserved for family history records, and populating this with the SNOMED CT Concept for the relevant disorder

Anchor
_Toc397466883
_Toc397466883
Reporting with SNOMED CT

System outputs such as mandatory reports need to be supported at each implementation stage.

...