Health terminology for the Australian health sector launched

7 December 2009. NEHTA today launched the first release of SNOMED CT-AU®* to Australian licence holders. 
SNOMED CT-AU is the Australian release of SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms) with additional customised content for the Australian healthcare market.
 
The way patient clinical information is captured and shared by healthcare providers is vital to improving the quality and safety of healthcare delivery and is fundamental to the success of e-health. 
 
An average encounter with a healthcare provider generates a large amount of clinical information — for example the diagnosis, treatment procedure and prescribed medication. Imperative to capturing this information is a standard clinical language or terminology that is recognisable to both clinicians/patients and the computer systems they use in an e-health environment. A standard clinical terminology enables the terms used as part of clinical communications to be clearly recorded and interpreted and gives healthcare providers and developers of e-health applications a common language to ensure consistency and clarity in information that is recorded and exchanged. SNOMED CT is such a clinical terminology.
 
“SNOMED CT is considered the most comprehensive, multilingual clinical healthcare terminology in the world and is the preferred terminology for Australia,” said NEHTA Chief Executive Peter Fleming.
 
“Every year, avoidable adverse medical events can occur because of poor communication between healthcare providers. The delivery of a standard clinical language is a significant step towards improving the quality and safety of healthcare in Australia.”
 
SNOMED CT-AU is the Australian release of SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms) with additional customised content for the Australian healthcare market.
 
The initial release of SNOMED CT-AU includes:
  • relevant components from the SNOMED CT international release
  • a list (known as a reference set) of the Australian English preferred descriptions
  • context specific reference sets designed to support the data requirements for NEHTA’s clinical information specifications
  • documentation explaining the release, contents and implementation
  • terminology viewers to access the files in Windows and Mac formats. 
This first release of SNOMED CT provides the product platform for the incorporation and release of newly developed Australian terminology content. NEHTA is working on additional sets of new content to be incorporated into ongoing releases.
 
NEHTA administers SNOMED CT licensing in Australia on behalf of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO) and makes it available for use within the Australian ehealth community with the following features:
  • available as a single consolidated product
  • easily accessible through a single set of download file
  • improved versioning and file-naming rules make it easier to identify specific terminology components.
The next release will be available in May 2010 with updated international and Australian content. Subsequent releases will then be available every six months.
 
Existing SNOMED CT-AU users or those enquiring about the product can contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
* This material includes SNOMED Clinical Terms® (SNOMED CT®) which is used by permission of the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO®). All rights reserved. SNOMED CT was originally created by The College of American Pathologists. IHTSDO®, SNOMED® and SNOMED CT® are registered trademarks of the IHTSDO.