SNOMED CT browsers and other applications that enable access SNOMED CT concepts allow the content and structure of the terminology to be explored. This exploration can serve many different purposes, ranging from allowing people to get a broad idea of the scope of SNOMED CT to looking for specific concepts that interest them. The same applications can be used to enable a more thorough review of the terminology in a particular specialty area to assess the breadth, depth and applicability of SNOMED CT to a particular set of requirements. Tools that enable visual review of a released SNOMED CT Edition are also valuable for quality assurance and when considering requests for addition or changes to the terminology.
Table 3.1-1 shows a summary of the terminology services required to support effective exploration and review of SNOMED CT content.
Table 3.1-1: Terminology Services Required to Support Exploring and Reviewing SNOMED CT
| Practical Requirement | Status 1 | Required Terminology Services2 | Additional Terminology Service Dependencies3 |
| Enable the selection of SNOMED CT edition and version to be explored. | REQUIRED | 4.1 Select Edition and Version | N/A |
| Enable concepts to be found by identifier. | REQUIRED | N/A | |
| Enable the display of terms for any identified concept. | REQUIRED | 4.3 Get Terms for a Concept | N/A |
| Enable the display of the definition of a concept. | REQUIRED | 4.4 Get Definition of a Concept | N/A |
| Enable the display of the SNOMED CT subtype hierarchy, including supertype parents and subtype children. | REQUIRED | 4.5 Get and Test Concept Subtypes and Supertypes
| N/A |
| Enable concepts to be found by term searches. | REQUIRED |
| N/A |
| Enable concepts to be found by constrained term searches. | OPTIONAL |
| One or more of the following depending on range of search constraint types supported 3.1.5 Get and Test Concept Subtypes and Supertypes
3.1.6 Test Reference Set Membership |
| Enable the display of an indication of the reference sets of which a specified concept or description is a member. | OPTIONAL | N/A | |
| Enable the display of the acceptability of a specified description in an identified language reference set | OPTIONAL | 4.10 Get Data from a Reference Set | N/A |
| Enable the display of reference set data related to a specified reference set member. | OPTIONAL | N/A | |
| Enable the display of all members of a specified reference set and the reference set data related to each member. | OPTIONAL | N/A |
Footnotes
Applications designed to address this use case must support the practical requirements marked as Required. Support for the practical requirements marked as Optional is recommended as these provide enhanced functionality that may be required by some users.
In most cases, a reference to a subsection of 4 Terminology Service Types, implies a requirement for all services marked as Required in that subsection. However, where a reference is followed by a bulleted list, that list specifies the specific terminology services required. Some of the specific services listed as required for an Optional practical requirement may be marked as Recommended in the referenced subsection.
The Additional Terminology Service Dependencies column contains references to services on which a Required Terminology Service depends. This column does not restate dependencies on services listed as required service or additional dependencies for essential requirements listed in earlier rows. A full list of the dependencies of each terminology service is provided in the relevant subsection of 4 Terminology Service Types.
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