Antwerp University Hospital

In an academic hospital setting, physicians and researchers frequently request prevalence data of medical conditions. Prevalence figures are essential for research purposes, quality control, policy development, and resource allocation. Following the transition to a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system in 2021, the Antwerp University Hospital introduced SNOMED terminology to standardize the documentation of medical conditions and procedures. Legacy records were converted by a team, using code recommendations within a Natural Language Processing (NLP) tool, to convert legacy records into structured SNOMED data. As with any major change, adoption varies; while some users embrace structured documentation early, widespread acceptance remains a big challenge.

To support this ongoing process, a hospital diagnosis dashboard was introduced in 2023. This self-service tool allows physicians and researchers to query the hospital's data warehouse using SNOMED terms. Query results are presented in a pseudonymized format and include limited demographic details (such as sex and age), as well as additional data points like last visit, author, specialty, and date of diagnosis. These results make use of relations within SNOMED CT, with the capability to include child concepts implicitly with a search.
This diagnosis dashboard may help in the gradual adoption to SNOMED registration. It provides the end-users of EPR a tool to aid in research and demonstrates directly the potential and importance of structured documentation.