SNOMED-CT: The advanced terminology and coding system for eHealth

Abstract

A clinical terminology is essential for Electronic Health records. It represents clinical information input into clinical IT systems by clinicians in a machine-readable manner. Use of a Clinical Terminology, implemented within a clinical information system, will enable the delivery of many patient health benefits including electronic clinical decision support, disease screening and enhanced patient safety. For example, it will help reduce medication-prescribing errors, which are currently known to kill or injure many citizens. It will also reduce clinical administration effort and the overall costs of healthcare.