Implementation guide for interoperable medicines

This guidance is under active development by NHS England and content may be added or updated on a regular basis.

Use of Synonyms

In most instances it is anticipated that the UK Preferred term should be the term applied to SNOMED CT concepts. For some cases the anatomically correct Fully Specified Name (FSN) for the SNOMED-CT term may not be easily understood by the patient or clinician. Where a synonym is used, see below for how this is supported within UK Core implementation of FHIR.

See UKCore Guidance on the use of CodeableConcept.

Using a Fully Specified Name (FSN)

<!-- using the Fully Specified Name (FSN) -->
<coding>
    <system value="http://snomed.info/sct"/>
    <code value="422145002"/>
    <display value="Inject - dosing instruction imperative (qualifier value)"/>
</coding>

Using a UK preferred term

<!-- using the UK preferred term -->
<coding>
     <system value="http://snomed.info/sct"/>
    <code value="422145002"/>
    <display value="Inject"/>
</coding>

Using a synonym

<!-- using a synonym -->
<coding>
    <extension url="https://fhir.hl7.org.uk/StructureDefinition/Extension-UKCore-CodingSCTDescDisplay">
        <valueString value="Inject - dosing instruction imperative" />
    </extension>
    <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/coding-sctdescid">
         <valueId value="2622993011" />
    </extension>  
    <system value="http://snomed.info/sct"/>
    <code value="422145002"/>
    <display value="Inject - dosing instruction imperative (qualifier value)"/>
</coding>
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