Purpose
The main reasons for adding descriptions in an extension are:
- To translate SNOMED CT into another language
- To add terms that are preferred or accepted within a local setting, for example
- Common clinical terms that facilitate searching for concepts
- Patient friendly terms
- To support the creation of new concepts in the extension, which each require at least two descriptions
Principles
Overview
As depicted in
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CapRefId | descriptions-can-reference-concepts-in-other-extensions-or-editions |
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CapRefType | Figure |
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, a description in an extension may refer to any concept in the same extension (Extension B), any concept in a module upon which the extension modules depend (Extension A), or any concept in the International Edition.
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CapId | descriptions-can-reference-concepts-in-other-extensions-or-editions |
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CapType | Figure |
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Descriptions can reference concepts in other modules on which the extension modules depend |
Note that the green and orange triangles pointing to the purple circle represent a situation in which a description is added to an extension that describes an international concept. These extension descriptions supplement the descriptions that are already part of the International Edition.
Adding Descriptions for a New Concept
Descriptions in SNOMED CT are represented in a description file. At least two descriptions must be created for each new concept in an extension:
- A description of type
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000003001 |Fully specified name| |
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(FSN) - Note that all extension producers should create an unambiguous FSN in US English for each new concept. Additional FSNs may also be created to support other languages and dialects.
- A description of type
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000013009 |Synonym| |
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, in either English or an alternative language
The acceptability of new descriptions must be specified in a language reference set.
Adding Fully Specified Names
The following principles apply to adding FSNs in an extension.
- There may be more than one active description with a typeId of
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000003001 |Fully specified name| |
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(FSN). - However, only one FSN should be marked as preferred for use in a given language or dialect by a specific Language Reference Set.
- Every extension concept must have an unambiguous FSN in US English.
- The US English FSN is the point of reference for the meaning of all concepts in the SNOMED CT International Edition.
- The US English FSN is used to facilitate sharing and to resolve potential issues related to the interpretation of the meaning.
- Extensions producers are permitted to create a FSN in each of their native languages.
- This means that a non-English FSN may be marked as the preferred FSN in a specific language reference set in the extension.
- Consequently, a concept may have more than one FSN. However, only one may be preferred in a specific language reference set.
- Where a concept has only one active description with a typeId of
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000003001 |Fully specified name| |
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across all language codes within a release, then that description can be assumed to be the FSN for all languages and dialects, and need not be explicitly included in every language reference set.
Adding Synonyms
- Unlike FSNs, synonyms are not necessarily unique between concepts, as the same term can be used to describe more than one concept.
- The preferred term is the synonym marked as preferred for use in the Language Reference Set for a given language or dialect.
- There must be at least one description with a typeId of
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000013009 |Synonym| |
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and an acceptabilityId value of Concept |
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t | 900000000000548007 |Preferred| |
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for each concept associated with a description in a given language reference set.
Adding Descriptions to an Existing Concept
When a description is created in an extension, as part of a translation or to provide a localized synonym for an existing concept, a new row should be added in the relevant language reference set to indicate whether the description is
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000548007 |Preferred| |
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or
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000549004 |Acceptable| |
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in the given language or dialect.
Process
The table below provides a summary of the process to follow when adding new descriptions to an extension.
File Type | Process |
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Description
| A new row which represents the new description is added to the description file. |
The attributes of the new description are set as follows: - id is set to a new descriptionId allocated within the extension namespace
- effectiveTime is set to the date the extension will be published
- active is set to 1 to indicate that the new description will be active at the time of publication
- moduleId is set to the conceptId of a module that is managed by the extension producer
- conceptId is set to the id of the concept to which this description applies
- languageCode is set to the two character code of the language in which this term was authored
- typeId is set to indicate the type of the description
- Values include
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000003001 |Fully specified name| |
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| or Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000013009 |Synonym| |
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- term is set to the string of characters used to describe the given concept
- caseSignificanceId is set to indicate the case significance of the term
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Language Reference Set | A new row (or member) is added to each relevant language reference set. |
The attributes of the new language reference set member are set as follows: - id is set to a unique automatically-generated UUID
- effectiveTime is set to the date the extension will be published
- active is set to 1 to indicate that the new member will be active at the tiem of publication
- moduleId is set to the conceptId of a module that is managed by the extension producer
- refsetId is set to the conceptId of the language reference set to which the member is added
- referencedComponentId is set to the descriptionId of the new description
- acceptability is set to indicate the acceptability of the new description in the relevant language or dialect
- Value is either
Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000548007 |Preferred| |
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| or Concept |
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ShowParts | term |
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t | 900000000000549004 |Acceptable| |
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- Each concept may have only one preferred FSN and one preferred synonym in each language reference set
|