Designing an Information Model for Structured Referrals and Interoperable Data Exchange in Radiology

As a key component of patient diagnosis and treatment, radiology depends on seamless communication between referring clinicians and imaging providers. Incomplete or inconsistent radiology referrals remain a major source of inefficiency and clinical risk. This paper presents a conceptual information model that standardises referral and procedural information, enabling interoperability, localisation, and risk management. Approximately 2,500 radiological procedures were analysed alongside semi-structured stakeholder interviews to identify shared principles across diagnostic and interventional radiology. Each principle was defined once and mapped to SNOMED CT, enabling structured data capture and cross-system reuse. The resulting model provides a foundation for designing communication tools, such as procedure catalogues that provide clinical guidance, or referral templates that define required clinical information. As a next step, the model will be implemented within a radiology department to evaluate its anticipated potential to enhance communication and decision support in clinical practice. The novelty lies in abstracting radiological data into reusable principles that can be applied to support consistency, interoperability and quality management within radiology and other medical specialties.