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General considerations

Capitalization

All terms should be in lower case letters except the first word in the string, which should be capitalized. All Canadian English Edition content follows the same format, only the first word of the string is capitalized. Exceptions can be found in section where trade names are part of descriptions. 

Plus signs ( + )

Plus signs (+) (with space before and after) have been used for vaccine product combinations. Although commas are not supposed to be used as per SNOMED International guidelines, they may be found in Core. Canadian Edition content includes plus signs (+).

Vaccine descriptions

The Canadian Edition consists of concepts and descriptions. Descriptions may be added to core concepts as a preferred synonym or as an acceptable synonym (not preferred). All vaccine concepts will at least have two (2) descriptions: one ‘Fully Specified Name’ and one ‘Preferred Synonym’. The Fully Specified Name is always unique in the terminology, but other descriptions may not be. As part of the immunization project, note that all Preferred Synonyms are unique to assure proper product identification for patient safety.

The Immunization Fully Specified Name (FSN)

• The components of the description are separated by a space;
• This is intended to be unambiguous and unique in SNOMED CT;
• It is not recommended that this description be used at the user interface;
• U.S. English spelling will be used. E.g.: milliliter instead of millilitre;
• The ‘pharmaceutical / biologic product’ hierarchy is used for vaccine concepts (as opposed to substance) and the FSN will therefore always include the semantic tag “(product)”;
• The ‘substance’ hierarchy is used for antigens and immunoglobulins when these are considered active ingredients of a product and the FSN for antigens will therefore always include the semantic tag “(substance)”;
• The restrictions in punctuation are quotes (“), commas (,), registered sign (®) and trademark sign (™); these shall not be used.  Brackets, slashes, dashes, single quotes, periods, asterisk, ampersand, colons are acceptable for use but will be limited as much as possible.

The Immunization English Preferred Synonym (PS)

• The components of the description are separated by a space;
• This description is intended to be used at the user interface; 
• Descriptions used are familiar to domain stakeholders, and include those descriptions provided by Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC);
• U.S. English spelling is used.  For example; pediatric as opposed to paediatric
• The restrictions in punctuation are quotes (“), commas (,), registered sign (®) and trademark sign (™); these shall not be used.  Brackets, slashes, dashes, single quotes, periods, asterisk, ampersand, colons are all acceptable for use but will be limited as much as possible;
• There is a field length requirement that descriptions should not be longer than 50 characters for the public health users;
• All immunization terms are unique, that was a requirement for Ontario and is important for patient safety.

The Immunization French Preferred Synonym (PS)

• Les composantes de la description sont séparées par un espace;
• Cette description est celle qui sera utilisée à l'interface utilisateur; 
• Les descriptions utilisées sont familières aux parties prenantes de domaine et incluent ces descriptions fournies par l’Agence de la santé publique du Canada;
• Les restrictions dans la ponctuation sont les guillemets (“), les virgules (,), les signes de marque enregistrées (®) et les signes de marques déposées (™); ils ne doivent pas être utilisés. Les parenthèses, les barres obliques, les tirets, les apostrophes, les points, les astérisques, sont acceptables mais leur utilisation devrait être limitée autant que possible;
• Il y a une exigence de longueur de champs de saisie selon laquelle les descriptions ne doivent pas dépasser 50 caractères pour les utilisateurs de santé publique;
• Tous les termes d'immunisation sont uniques. Ceci était une exigence pour l'Ontario et est une exigence importante pour la sécurité des patients.
• Le synonyme privilégié en français ne sera pas ajouté au sous-ensemble pour un code dont le ‘Concept Status’ est inactivé.