Guidance – Terminology Matching
Introduction
The Design Guidance – Terminology Matching document provides
guidance and recommendations for the matching of SNOMED CT® clinical terms in
user interfaces used in a medical note-taking environment.
The note-taking environment may use:
- Forms, where the user selects set options rather than entering text
- Single concept matching, where the user enters a note for a single clinical concept
and selects an appropriate match returned by the SNOMED CT database
- Text parser matching, where the user enters textual notes and the system matches
words and phrases against the SNOMED CT database
The aim of the guidance is to improve patient care and safety by decreasing the
likelihood of patient notes being miswritten or important details being missed,
with the standardization of data reducing potential misunderstandings due to nuances
in expression or writing style. The guidance also aims to provide a flexible and
efficient means of note taking which will not overly interfere with the clinician-patient
interaction.