Semantic validation of the use of SNOMED CT in HL7 clinical documents
2011

Validating SNOMED CT Use in Clinical Documents

publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Stijn Heymans, Matthew McKennirey, Joshua Phillips

Primary Institution: SemanticBits, LLC

Hypothesis

Can we automatically validate HL7 clinical documents using SNOMED CT terminology?

Conclusion

The study presents a method to automatically check the validity of CDA documents referencing SNOMED CT terminology, reducing the manual burden on healthcare IT professionals.

Supporting Evidence

  • The methodology automates the validation of clinical documents, which traditionally required manual checks.
  • Using OWL allows for reasoning about the relationships and constraints in clinical documents.
  • The study identifies common errors in CDA documents related to SNOMED CT guidelines.

Takeaway

This study shows a way to check if medical documents follow the rules for using a special medical language, making it easier for doctors and computers to understand them.

Methodology

The study uses OWL to represent CDA documents and SNOMED CT, applying OWL Integrity Constraints to validate the documents.

Limitations

The approach currently does not handle complex SNOMED CT expressions and relies on a tailored version of the SNOMED CT ontology.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/2041-1480-2-2

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