Why create a Thesaurus?
It is important that we all refer to the various symptoms and disorders by the same name. After all, it is essential for human-to-human communication that we understand each other completely. That is even more important for machines: they are not in a position to ask supplementary questions when they don’t understand.
That is therefore the reason why BijnierNET (AdrenalNET) – together with Nictiz and DHD – has decided to create a Thesaurus for adrenal gland disorders. What is a Thesaurus? In our case, it is a systematic collection of words and expressions, the names of adrenal gland disorders. These terms are illustrated in the drawings with the aid of the appropriate code system so that not only their hierarchical relationship but also their semantic relationship is clear.
Because our Thesaurus uses the codes of Snomed (*), ICD10 (**) and the DHD (***), we can together ensure that the disorders and symptoms are given their correct names, that the diagnosis is made and recorded in the correct way in the IT systems and that there can no longer be a risk of a Babel-like confusion. We can help make sure that everyone understands everyone else. Not only throughout the Netherlands but all over the world.
Thanks to uniform and timely registration, we can eventually gather reliable statistical information, information about the various adrenal gland disorders that is currently sadly lacking.
We hope that this initiative will help ensure that we all record the appropriate things in the correct way.
Download the pdf 20161215-Thesaurus-adrenal-diseases.pdf
(*) Snomed is an international organisation that provides a multilingual medical terminology system with a highly-structured collection of medical terms. Snomed’s system of codes allows medical terms to be understood in spite of language barriers.
(**) The ICD-10 is the 10th edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. This list of illnesses and disorders is kept up to date by the World Health Organization, and used all around the world.
(***) DHD collects, manages and processes data from the various Dutch hospitals and University Medical Centers. DHD then returns that data in the form of information. The organisation was established by and for all the hospitals and UMCs in the Netherlands.
Credits: BijnierNET the Netherlands
20161215-Thesaurus adrenal diseases.pdf