The Keywords Already in Your Read Dictionary
Only about 150,000 Read terms in the full Read dictionary have a keyword.
A large number of extra Keywords have been introduced to help you to find the Read term that you want first time. This has been designed by one of our Vision 3 users, Dr Tom Davies, who has done significant work in this area.
The traditional method of selection of Read still operates exactly as described in Quick add of Read descriptions from front - Add screen, so by typing a word or part of a word you are taken to a match in the Read dictionary. By this method you can however, sometimes find yourself in an inappropriate part of the dictionary.
These new keywords have been built around three premises:
- Prefixes used for Read selection. If you prefix your keyword will a short mnemonic and list from the first entry, then you will obtain a list of related codes, so NG will give you a list of the common malignancies encountered in General Practice. .
- Medical Acronyms used for Read selection, like CTS - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, PMR - Polymyalgia Rheumatica, will now all work, as well as the ones that are alReady in Read like OC - Oral contraception, OD ‑ Overdose of drug.
- Medical Acronyms used for Read selection. COPAIN takes you direct to "1D13. C/O: a pain", BACKNAD will take you "2H81. O/E - spine NAD". These frequently use the combination of a Prefix and then a location or symptom. Negative examination findings are all coded with a prefix of "0" (zero).
We believe that the inclusion of these extra Keywords will make the process of moving to Read easier, enabling users to type the way that they think and still find appropriate terms in the dictionary, without scrolling through long lists or browsing the hierarchy of Read.
Using this method of data entry in a Vision 3 environment, Dr Davies adds 7 or more separate Read coded entries per consultation, and very quickly builds a useful clinical record that is fully coded.
To add new keywords to your formulary, see Add new keywords to Read terms.
