SNOMED International releases its Q1 news to you, our valued community. This quarter focuses on our SNOMED CT releases, including the January 2020 International Edition release and interim March 2020 release both representative of COVID-19 content.
We celebrate a new Member in our community, and new licensing and education delivery agreements with partners. Lastly, January 2020 saw the launch of the organization's 2020-2025 Strategy to guide our activities over the next 5 years.
Read up on developments taking place in 2020, as well as past editions of our newsletter here.
Share your feedback or ideas at comms@snomed.org
Germany's Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) formally announced a relationship with SNOMED International Wednesday March 18, 2020. As of last week, the Federal Ministry of Research has given MII participants nationwide a license to use SNOMED CT.
As part of the Medical Informatics Initiative funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the terminology standard can now be used nationwide. This “pilot license” will be initially limited to MII participants and project partners.
Read the full release. Please send your questions to info@snomed.org.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization formally characterized COVID-19 as a global pandemic and health systems globally are continuing their efforts to manage the outbreak.
SNOMED International recently announced an interim release of the SNOMED CT International Edition outside of its customary release cycle to include updated COVID-19 content as a means of lending its support to the ongoing global effort.
Without reservation, SNOMED International will also include this COVID-19 content, in its recently released Global Patient Set (GPS), a managed list of existing SNOMED CT unique identifiers, fully specified names (FSN), preferred terms in international English, and status flags, made available at no cost to users. Please note, this content will appear as part of the GPS in the next release in September 2020, but is now available here and can be used under the same open license, the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Learn more about the GPS and access provided resources on SNOMED International’s Global Patient Set information page.
For more information, contact info@snomed.org.
SNOMED International maintains and quality assures SNOMED CT on an ongoing basis, issuing releases of its International Edition at the end of January and July each year.
In cases where a global emergency persists and warrants action, for example SARS in 2013 and the current COVID-19 situation, SNOMED International has taken steps to issue an interim release of the SNOMED CT International Edition to serve a public good. With this release, clinicians, researchers and administrators globally are able to code, analyze and plan to address the Coronavirus effort with the most up to date terminology.
The March 2020 interim release contains relevant COVID-19 concepts including any applicable changes to descriptions. With this interim release, 24 records have been added, plus core concept descriptions added back in referencing March 2020.
| ConceptID | DescriptionID | Term |
| 840534001 | 3950925017 | COVID-19 vaccination |
| 840544004 | 3950926016 | Suspected COVID-19 |
| 840535000 | 3947177019 | Antibody to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (substance) |
| 840535000 | 3947178012 | Antibody to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 |
| 840535000 | 3947179016 | Antibody to SARS-CoV-2 |
| 840536004 | 3947180018 | Antigen of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (substance) |
| 840536004 | 3947181019 | Antigen of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 |
| 840536004 | 3947182014 | Antigen of SARS-CoV-2 |
| 840539006 | 3947183016 | Disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (disorder) |
| 840539006 | 3947184010 | Disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 |
| 840539006 | 3947185011 | COVID-19 |
| 840546002 | 3947186012 | Exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (event) |
| 840546002 | 3947187015 | Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 |
| 840546002 | 3947188013 | Exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 |
| 840533007 | 3947189017 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (organism) |
| 840533007 | 3947190014 | SARS-CoV-2 |
| 840533007 | 3947191013 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 |
| 840534001 | 3947192018 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccination (procedure) |
| 840534001 | 3947193011 | SARS-CoV-2 vaccination |
| 840534001 | 3947194017 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccination |
| 840544004 | 3947195016 | Suspected disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 |
| 840544004 | 3947196015 | Suspected disease caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 |
| 840544004 | 3947197012 | Suspected disease caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (situation) |
| 138875005 | 3947198019 | SNOMED Clinical Terms version: 20200309 [R] (March 2020 Interim Release) |
SNOMED CT users have the choice to take this interim release package and import into their systems now, or follow their planned update in July 2020, which will also include all relevant content.
To learn more about this release, visit the linked confluence page to review the March 2020 SNOMED CT International Edition Release.
SENT ON BEHALF OF DON SWEETE
I extend my thanks to you for your patience as we have continued to monitor the developing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus). Made apparent by recent reports from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no doubt that the virus continues to spread globally.
Myself, in collaboration with the General Assembly Executive, have been constantly involved in discussion over the past few weeks regarding the present situation. We have now made the difficult decision to cancel the face to face 2020 April Business Meetings to protect the health of our Community and do our part to prevent the spread of this outbreak.
In place of the Community Updates session, we will provide you with a document outlining the headlines from the organization since October 2019 that you can review and then pose your follow up questions with organization representatives.
While we are not rescheduling these meetings, we will support all meetings to go ahead virtually where possible and be in touch with relevant participants. At this point, we plan to next convene face to face in Portugal, October 2020.
I thank you for your ongoing support and encourage you to reach out to us with any questions or inquiries you have as a result of this decision.
Sincerely,
Don Sweete
CEO, SNOMED International
With the SNOMED International 2020 April Business Meetings in London fast approaching, we wish to provide you with an update about actions that the organization is taking around the global COVID-19 pandemic. Rest assured that the health, safety and well-being of our community remains our highest priority.
SNOMED International continues to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation and the health risk for the general British public is considered low at this time, according to the latest summary from the UK government's Department of Health and Social Care.
As of March 4, 2020, SNOMED International’s April Business Meetings are proceeding as scheduled.
We each have a personal responsibility to do our part to incorporate basic, protective measures into our everyday routine. World Health Organization (WHO) recommended measures include:
Frequent hand washing: We have made provisions to have hand sanitizer onsite and readily available.
Maintain social distancing: Maintain a 1m distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth: 2020 April Business Meetings will be a handshake free zone.
Practice respiratory hygiene: If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask (available on site) if you are taking care of a person with suspected COVID-19 infection.
SNOMED International will continue to follow the guidance of the UK government and the WHO and will provide frequent updates to you, our Community of Practice. We will ensure that easy access to clinicians, personal protective equipment (e.g. masks) and alternatives to in-person participation are available. We are also communicating regularly with our venue, the Waldorf Hilton London, about any proposed protocols and procedures they may have.
Please be advised that SNOMED International will cancel the 2020 April Business Meetings if we feel that the COVID-19 risk to our Community of Practice is too great, and we will advise with sufficient notice to respect the impact to your travel plans.
We encourage our attendees to bookmark the April Business Meeting event page to keep up to date on relevant news items. We also encourage you to monitor your relevant government department websites for the latest advice regarding travel to the UK.
If you have any questions, please click here to contact the SNOMED International Events Team. Assuming circumstances remain unchanged, we look forward to seeing you in London.
Visit https://www.snomed.org/news-and-events/events/business-meeting for updates