A terminology binding that represents the meaning of a data item or collection of data items.

Notes

• SNOMED CT meaning bindings associate a meaning, represented by a concept, expression or expression template, with a data item (or a collection of data items) defined by an information model.  

• The meaning represented by an instance of a data item with a meaning binding is determined by applying the meaning binding to the value in that instance. 

• The meaning represented by an instance of a defined collection of data items with a meaning binding is determined by applying the meaning binding to the values in that instance. 

Example

• An application that manages surgical procedure requests could identify requested procedures using concepts that are subtypes of  387713003 | Surgical procedure| . In this case, the data item in which that concept is recorded should have a meaning binding that explicitly indicates that this is a request (e.g. the expression template below). When this meaning binding is applied this data item is interpreted as a subtype of  400999005 | Procedure requested (situation)|  and not as a completed procedure.

Alternative

• • Semantic binding
    

Related Links

• • Glossary
    • terminology binding
      
    • value set binding
  • Specifications
    • Template Syntax Specification