Mapping Wound Assessment Data Elements in SNOMED CT.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Nursing Informatics
• Clinical Terminology

Background:

• Standardized terminologies are crucial for interoperability in electronic health records (EHRs).
• Effective wound assessment data capture requires consistent and shareable terminology.
• Lack of standardized terms hinders seamless data exchange in wound care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map a commonly used nursing wound assessment template to SNOMED CT.
• To evaluate the extent of direct concept matches between wound assessment data and SNOMED CT.
• To develop a set of mapped wound assessment parameters for improved EHR interoperability.

Main Methods:

• A nursing wound assessment template from British Columbia was selected.
• Data elements from the template were systematically mapped to concepts within SNOMED CT.
• The percentage of direct matches between assessment elements and SNOMED CT concepts was calculated.

Main Results:

• Preliminary analysis revealed that 50.8% of wound assessment data elements had direct matches in SNOMED CT.
• The mapping exercise successfully identified corresponding SNOMED CT concepts for a significant portion of wound parameters.
• A curated set of mapped wound assessment parameters to SNOMED CT was generated.

Conclusions:

• Direct mapping of nursing wound assessments to SNOMED CT is feasible and yields substantial results.
• SNOMED CT provides a robust foundation for standardizing wound care terminology in EHRs.
• The generated mapped parameters can enhance data interoperability and support clinical decision-making in wound management.