WELCOME
Why is your opinion important to us?
The evolution of clinical engagement (e.g. SIG → VCGs) and rationale for the shift
As a clinical terminology, it is essential that SNOMED CT has input from clinicians to ensure that it remains relevant and up to date with the ever changing face of healthcare. Your opinion as clinicians is therefore very important to us to highlight the necessary changes and updates to the terminology itself, and also to advise us on derivative products (maps and subsets) which can be provided to support the implementation of the terminology
The evolution of clinical engagement
SNOMED CT has always had input from clinical groups throughout its history. Historically, this has been provided through special interest groups (SIG's), groups dedicated to specific clinical areas. The groups have been successful, but have been limited in their number of specialties covered; Dentistry, Nursing, Pathology and Laboratory medicine, Anaesthesia, Family/General Practice, Pharmacy. In addition to the clinical SIG's, there are also two functional SIG's covering Mapping and Implementation.
In 2016, SNOMED International recognised the importance of clinical input, through the creation of a dedicated clinical engagement team and the agreement of clinical engagement strategy. The aim of strategy is to provide a scalable approach to engaging with clinicians, and to ensure SNOMED CT has the input required to ensure it remains up to date and relevant to clinical practice. To provide a scaleable approach for gaining clinical input from all clinical specialties, SNOMED International has decided to move away from the use of SIG's, and replace them with a virtual model. The virtual model will enable input to be gained from a large number of specialties in the future.