CSIRO (4 of 4)

Enhancing SNOMED CT knowledge and use among Allied Health professionals in Australia

APAC

Data quality, Implementation, Mapping

This is a collaborative initiative with Allied Health Professionals Australia (AHPA) aimed at enhancing the knowledge and application of SNOMED CT among allied health professionals. The project focuses on educating Allied Health professionals about SNOMED CT, clinical terminologies and how they are applied within the national clinical information models. Additionally, the initiative seeks to improve the coverage of SNOMED CT for allied health content in Australia by working with the members of AHPA to map their own local codes to SNOMED CT using the Snap2SNOMED tool and submitting them to the Australian National Release Centre for inclusion.

Key components of this initiative include:

* Improve the digital readiness and digital understanding of Allied Health professionals in Australia
* Leverage national information modelling work, ensuring that Allied Health terminology aligns and conforms to the Australian Clinical Data for Interoperability
* Provide online education on SNOMED CT and hands-on training to use the Snap2SNOMED tool to map local codes to SNOMED CT, with clinicians bringing their own local terms and codes to map
* Improve the content coverage of Allied Health concepts in SNOMED CT.

This initiative aims to empower allied health professionals with the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively utilise SNOMED CT. By enhancing the coverage of SNOMED CT for allied health content and aligning the content with national information models, the project makes it easier for vendors to implement Allied Health content and so contributes to a more comprehensive and integrated national health information system.

Description

In Australia, Allied Health practitioners represent the second largest clinical workforce in the Australian healthcare system, yet are poorly integrated into the digital health system. While digital adoption and use of clinical systems in the allied health sector continues to grow, there is still a lack of appropriate software available. The diverse range of professional disciplines working across highly varied clinical and funding environments means high levels of complexity when considering digital health requirements and a lack of digital investment.

The project is a collaborative initiative between CSIRO and Allied Health Professionals Australia (AHPA) funded by the Australian Digital Health Agency; aimed at enhancing the knowledge and application of SNOMED CT among allied health professionals.

While one of the main outputs is to enhance SNOMED CT with content appropriate for national Allied Health SNOMED CT, it also focused on educating Allied Health professionals about SNOMED CT and how it can be implemented in vendor systems when aligned with national clinical information models.

For this project, a multi-faceted approach was used:

1. Online Training Sessions: online fundamental SNOMED CT training sessions with members of AHPA (https://www.ahpa.com.au/member-organisations) were held, representing a wide range of Allied Health clinicians. These sessions aimed to build foundational knowledge and awareness of SNOMED CT.
2. Local Code Set Sourcing: Clinicians were asked to source their local code sets, which provided a practical context for understanding the relevance and application of SNOMED CT in their specific fields, focusing on Problems/Diagnoses and Procedures.
3. Face-to-Face Workshop: A face-to-face workshop was held where hands-on training was provided to clinicians on how to use Snap-2-SNOMED, the SNOMED International hosted online mapping tool. This tool was then used by the clinicians to map their local codes to SNOMED CT.
4. Gap Analysis and Submission: During the workshop, gaps in SNOMED CT content were identified. These gaps were subsequently submitted for inclusion in SNOMED CT-AU, ensuring that the terminology remains comprehensive and relevant to the needs of Allied Health professionals.

This project aims to improve the coverage of SNOMED CT for use in Allied Health settings, while also empowering Allied Health professionals with knowledge and understanding of SNOMED CT. By aligning this project with data models developed as part of a national standards process, it also reduces the barrier to implementation for vendors. Improving the data quality of clinical documentation in the Allied Health sector will enhance patient care and facilitate greater interoperability within the healthcare system.

Scope

SNOMED CT is Australia's preferred clinical terminology and is the clinical terminology of choice in the national standards (Australian Clinical Data for Interoperability (AUCDI) and AU Core FHIR Implementation guide).

How SNOMED CT will be used

SNOMED CT is used as the clinical terminology of choice for recording Allied Health clinical information including clinical findings, procedures and observations.