Product releases • General

SNOMED CT‑AU and Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) April 2019

Published 24 April 2019

The National Clinical Terminology Service (NCTS) is pleased to announce that the April combined release of SNOMED CT® AU1 and the Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) is now available to registered users from the NCTS website.

The Release Note is provided alongside the combined RF2 release files which are available as Full, Snapshot and Delta, in addition to the traditional combined release bundle (labelled "ALL"). To access the Release Note and download the RF2 files, select SNOMED CT-AU > Release Bundles from the ACCESS tab.

Important Information

Doument Library Update
The following document has been added to the Document Library:

Australian Medicines Terminology v3 Model Editorial Rules v2.5

Please refer to the NCTS Document Library Release Note v2.14 in Recent Updates for further details

User Interface and Client-side Exemplars

The CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre, has developed a set of UI and client-side exemplar software snippets to illustrate various aspects of interacting with the FHIR Terminology API. These include:

  • Using the FHIR $validate-code operation,
  • A search box with type-ahead style functionality using the FHIR ValueSet $expand operation,
  • A drop box implemented using the FHIR ValueSet $expand operation,
  • Using ECL expressions with FHIR ValueSet $expand operation,
  • The FHIR $translate operation,
  • Batching of FHIR operations and;
  • A UI that ensures users have performed a relevant code search.

The HL7 FHIR Terminology Service Exemplars can be accessed from the technical section of the Document Library or directly from https://aehrc.github.io/fhir-ts-exemplars/.

Clinical Informatics FHIR Repository

The Australian Digital Health Agency has released the Clinical Informatics FHIR repository on GitHub. The repository is a collection of early working drafts of FHIR, Release 3 (STU) artefacts to enable development and design in a collaborative, open and transparent process in partnership with standards organisations and industry. The contents of this repository include:

  • FHIR implementation guides
  • FHIR profiles, extensions and examples
  • Files necessary to build the FHIR implementation guides

You can access the ci-fhir-stu3 repository at: https://github.com/AuDigitalHealth/ci-fhir-stu3.

Quick Tips

What are Reference Sets?
Reference sets are collections of SNOMED CT-AU components developed for a particular purpose within a defined scope to support the requirements for customisation and enhancements. Every reference set also has a unique numeric concept identifier. They can broadly fall into two categories:

  • Subsets of content to facilitate the recording, storing, retrieval and processing of information in an electronic health record at the point of care; and
  • Structural reference sets manage extensions, data structures and release formats to support technical implementation.

Specific information on NCTS developed reference sets such as definition and usage, bindings to clinical models or specifications, and method for defining the content can be found in the SNOMED CT-AU Development Approach for Reference Sets publication in the Document Library. Summary information can also be found by clicking on the document icon in the 'View' column alongside each Reference Set listed on the website. Section 6 of the SNOMED CT-AU Australian Technical Implementation Guide provides some guidance on how to implement reference sets in the RF2 format.

Each month we will be providing you with a new quick tip on the use of our products or navigating our website and documents with a link to further information (where applicable). If you have a suggestion for a tip, please let us know using the Feedback details below.

Education Sessions

Webinars
The NCTS plans to schedule further webinars throughout 2019 and all licence holders will be notified when these dates are made available. If you would like to register an expression of interest or request a specific topic, please contact us using the feedback details below.

Please also visit the webinars section in the Document Library to view the existing pre-recorded webinars.

Where can I find technical guides and other resources?

All SNOMED CT AU and AMT documentation, including technical and implementation guides, is freely available for download from the NCTS Document Library without registering or logging in. However, if you are a registered user we recommend that you log in before downloading any material so that we can better target our communications to you, based on the resources that you have downloaded.

Terminology browsers

Shrimp[3] is available online at http://ontoserver.csiro.au/shrimp. Search both SNOMED CT AU and AMT content, or browse the hierarchies by selecting the latest version of “SNOMED Clinical Terms Australian Extension” in the drop-down menu.

Feedback

Development by the NCTS relies on the input and cooperation of the Australian healthcare community. We value your feedback and encourage questions, comments, or suggestions about our products. You can contact us by completing the online support request form, via email [email protected], or call 1300 901 001.

Thank you for your continued support.

Regards,
NCTS

  1. "SNOMED" and "SNOMED CT" are registered trademarks of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO).
  2. FHIR is a registered trademark of Health Level Seven International.
  3. Shrimp was developed by the Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC).

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