Value sets and the problem of redundancy in value set repositories

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Terminology
• Data Management

Background:

• Creating high-quality value sets demands significant clinical, terminological, and informatics expertise.
• Value set repositories face challenges with clutter and redundancy, hindering efficient reuse.
• Discerning differences between similarly named value sets complicates selection and evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the challenges in value set development and reuse.
• To propose a framework for understanding diverse practices and perspectives in value set creation.
• To address the redundancy problem in value set repositories.

Main Methods:

• A field study involving researchers and informaticists.
• Analysis of relevant literature and reflective practice.
• Qualitative analysis of field research data.

Main Results:

• Identified three dichotomous concepts: permissible vs. analytic value sets, prescriptive vs. descriptive controlled vocabulary use, and semantic vs. empirical development/evaluation.
• These concepts explain the redundancy issue and advance understanding of value set development.
• The framework clarifies when multiple value sets are necessary or redundant.

Conclusions:

• Value set repositories require innovative software changes to enhance usability.
• Future platforms should guide users toward improving existing value sets or creating new ones only when essential.
• Advanced interfaces for comparing value sets and collecting metadata are crucial for leveraging prior work.