What is SNOMED CT?

Pathway Developer uses SNOMED CT, which stands for Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms and is a common, standardised clinical coding language.

SNOMED CT is the most comprehensive and precise clinical health terminology product in the world, it includes:

  • Diagnosis and Procedures

  • Symptoms

  • Family history

  • Allergies

  • Assessment tools

  • Observations

  • Devices

  • Other content to support healthcare delivery

Using SNOMED Clinical Terms to record data results in:

  • Consistent recording and retrieval of information

  • Advanced data analysis

  • Real-time decision support

  • Meaningful sharing of information

SNOMED Clinical Terms are built of three building blocks:

  • Concepts - unique codes

  • Relationships - the links between other concepts

  • Descriptions - the fully specified names and the synonyms, these are selected for recording purposes

For example:

  • The Tag displays after the Fully specified name (FSN) in brackets, this indicates where the Concept is located in the SNOMED CT dictionary.

  • A Preferred Term is designated to the description most healthcare professionals use for a specific disorder, however, you can select any synonym you require.

Within SNOMED CT, Concepts are associated with other Concepts using two different types of relationships

  • The is-a relationship enables concepts to be part of a structured hierarchy that groups similar concepts. This is often referred to as a parent-child relationship. Each concept has a relationship to at least one “parent” concept, and as you go further down the hierarchy, concepts become more detailed and specific.

  • An attribute relationship can be used to further define each concept, for example, Asthma would also have an attribute relationship with Airway structure and Glaucoma has an attribute relationship with Structure of eye.
    The attribute can also indicate the code is Quantitative, for example, Blood pressure. Other attributes can include; causative agent, laterality, interpretation, method and many more.

SNOMED CT Hierarchy - SNOMED CT terms are organised into 19 categories each of which covers different aspects of healthcare. From the Code search browser screen in Pathway Developer you can select Hierarchy to look at terms within the chapter.

When selecting a term, it is important to understand the categories, for example, Urine protein test belongs to the following hierarchies:

  • Urine protein test - Observable Entity

  • Urine protein test (the procedure) - Procedure

Important - For more information on the SNOMED CT Hierarchies, see the NHS SNOMED CT Website.

Tips for searching for SNOMED CT Terms

  • Terms are represented in the singular rather than the plural. Always search for the singular version of a description.

  • Full and partial keywords enable you to search for SNOMED CT terms. For example, herpes zoster or by selecting partial match type herp zost.

  • There should be no spaces either before or after terms that contain a hyphen, for example, intra-articular.

For further information on SNOMED CT, see the NHS Digital SNOMED CT Browser or SNOMED CT eLearning.