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 SNOMED-CT term may not be easily understood by the patient or clinician, so the use of a synonym may be preferred.

See UKCore Guidance on the use of CodeableConcept.

An example when using the preferred term "Injection - action".

<!-- Method, using a preferred term -->
<method>
    <coding>
        <system value="http://snomed.info/sct"/>
        <code value="129326001"/>
        <display value="Injection - action"/>
    </coding>
</method>

An example when using the synonym "Injection" of the preferred term "Injection - action".

<!-- Method, using a synonym -->
<method>
    <coding>
        <extension url="https://fhir.hl7.org.uk/StructureDefinition/Extension-UKCore-CodingSCTDescDisplay">
            <valueString value="Injection" />
        </extension>
        <system value="http://snomed.info/sct"/>
        <code value="129326001"/>
        <display value="Injection - action"/>
    </coding>
</method>
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