Basic Principles for Inclusion of Content in SNOMED CT
Content requests must adhere to the following basic principles in order to be considered for inclusion:
- Unambiguous: the concept must represent a clinical idea without ambiguity within the appropriate hierarchy. It is possible that the same synonym may be used to represent different concepts. In this case, it is mandatory to then refer to the FSN for selecting the proper term.
For example: fundus in the Body Structure hierarchy may refer to:
gastric fundus structure (body structure) or
structure of fundus uteri (body structure) or
structure of fundus of gallbladder (body structure) or
structure of fundus of eye (body structure). - Understandable: the content of the request must reflect the concept it represents and be comprehensive.
- Acceptable: the content must be represented by terms that are used in health care.
- Reproducible: the content is consistent with established patterns of representation.
- Useful: the content must support interoperability and be useful to more than one.
- Scope: all content should be accompanied by reference material that supports the use case. If the content may be used internationally, an international reference should be provided. Where internationally applicable reference material does not exist, an international use case cannot be established and national-level reference material should be provided. If the content may only be used nationally, a national reference should be provided.