Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms direction and its implications on critical care

The aim of this study was to describe the new advancements in Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) terminology and its applicability to critical care documentation.

Narrative review of existing literature published in indexed medical and health informatics journals and of gray literature available on the Internet and personal communication with authors and researchers engaged in SNOMED-CT projects related to critical care are conducted.

Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms is a system of comprehensive health and clinical terminology that covers most of the needs of health care documentation. It will potentially become the terminology of clinical enterprise and administrative information systems. Despite a ground swell of international support from health information management experts, the terminology remains unknown to most clinicians. We discuss the reasons why clinical familiarity with SNOMED-CT is an important prerequisite to proceeding with local or national electronic health records or clinical information systems.

We propose that SNOMED-CT is suitable for use in critical care; however, work is urgently required to validate the completeness of terminology and to determine clinicians' perceptions on the utility of such a standardized terminology for use in critical care clinical information systems.