Country / Region
EMEA
Tags
Implementation, Mapping, Research
Ghent University, commissioned by the Belgian government, is mapping SNOMED CT to the WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to improve semantic interoperability in healthcare data. Using low back pain as a representative case due to its widespread impact, the project seeks to align SNOMED CT concepts with ICF categories and the qualifiers through a combination of automated tools and expert review. This integration aims to support more comprehensive, person-centered clinical documentation and enhance the use of functional health data in care planning, decision-making, and outcome evaluation. Ultimately, the effort contributes to global initiatives promoting interoperable, biopsychosocial health information systems.
Description
The scope of this project involves mapping SNOMED CT, a comprehensive clinical terminology, to the WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in order to enhance semantic interoperability between clinical and functional health information systems. Focused on the use case of low back pain (LBP), the project aims to align relevant SNOMED CT concepts such as clinical findings, procedures, and interventions, with corresponding ICF categories, including body functions, activities and participation, and environmental factors. The work includes both automated and expert-driven methods, with the ultimate goal of enabling the integrated use of SNOMED CT and ICF in clinical documentation, electronic health records, and health information exchange. This integration supports more holistic, person-centered care by incorporating functioning and participation data into clinical decision-making and outcome evaluation.
Scope
SNOMED CT was chosen as the reference terminology due to its comprehensive coverage of healthcare intervention concepts and its robust ontological structure, which supports the use of constraint languages to navigate domain scopes, hierarchies, semantic tags, and attributes. Additionally, it has been designated by the Belgian Government as a key component in the national e-Health digital transformation strategy.
How SNOMED CT will be used
We focused on samples of SNOMED CT concepts, relevant for each selected category of the ICF. SNOMED CT is used to identify and represent clinical concepts related to low back pain, such as findings, procedures, and interventions.
Why SNOMED CT will be used
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