Best Things About Snomed Terms

Posted by Shally Warner
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Feb 24, 2021
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SNOMED or the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine is the systematized and multilingual collection of various clinical terms that healthcare workers and professionals use to exchange relevant information with the help of technology and the internet. It is managed and distributed by the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (IHTSDO) and presently has 300,000 or more notions which are grouped into hierarchies (including findings, treatments, medical histories, etc.), each is assigned with a unique number and can be used with each other to refer to complex situations or conditions.

Since SNOMED terms use the same numbers to identify certain concepts or notions, medical professionals from different healthcare facilities are able to understand it clearly and be able to communicate with each other to avoid confusion and minimize mistakes.

HOW ARE SNOMED TERMS MAINTAINED?

The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (IHTSDO) always does updates and maintenance on SNOMED terms depending on the current needs and user feedback. Usually, updates are released every January 31st and July 31st but in the United States, it is updated every March and September.

WHERE CAN SNOMED TERMS BE USED?

SNOMED terms can be used or applied in the following:

  • Clinical documentation
  • Healthcare data analytics
  • Support for healthcare workers when it comes to decision-making
  • Distribution of health information

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING SNOMED TERMS?

There are a lot of benefits to using SNOMED terms in healthcare facilities. Some of them include the following:

  • Consistent information can be shared and accessed by different facilities and departments.
  • Misinterpretations can be minimized.
  • Concepts and different types of data can be organized, accessed, and analyzed in just a few seconds or minutes.

Essentially, it gives healthcare facilities and professionals the ability to communicate with each other using the same terms or codes. This is very important especially in the healthcare industry where thousands of data are shared and processed. SNOMED terms help by speeding up the data management and sharing process between different facilities to help them improve their patient care and lessen the workload of employees so they can focus more on providing the best service.

ARE SNOMED TERMS THE SAME FOR ALL TYPES OF PATIENT CARE?

SNOMED terms are the same for all types of patient care to ensure uniformity when it comes to data processing and analysis. Its goal is to be able to help not just healthcare facilities or professionals but everyone who is in the healthcare sector.

Additionally, those who are responsible for maintaining SNOMED terms can also help in other industries in developing uniform and multilingual terms and codes to improve communication between different companies and departments.

WHAT DO I DO IF THE CONCEPTS I NEED ARE NOT INCLUDED IN SNOMED TERMS?

If you need to use concepts that can’t be found in SNOMED terms, you can always request to add new ones as long as you have the needed evidence to support them.

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