Representing HIV clinical terminology with SNOMED

1. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODS. Because of a need for a standard classification and coding system to encode data for HIV infected patients in the AIDS Program clinic at San Francisco General Hospital, we have begun a subset of clinical terms commonly used in the care of patients with HIV disease, and we have sought to represent these terms using terminology from the SNOMED International classification system. We selected a sample of key findings for AIDS primary care for the AIDS Registry database. The areas of chest x-ray findings, psychological problems, and patient symptoms were chosen because they were representative of a number of SNOMED International axes, including diagnoses, morphology, topography, and function. They also included modifiers representing the concepts of laterality, time, severity, and certainty. 2. RESULTS. As shown by the sample terms in the table below, the findings suggest that SNOMED is a good starting point for a standard classification and coding system to support the clinical care of patients with HIV disease. The next phase of the research will focus on the evaluation of the adequacy and acceptability of the SNOMED representation to clinicians in the AIDS clinic.