How scalable and flexible is SNOMED CT?
SNOMED CT has a broad coverage of health-related topics. It can be used to describe a patients medical history, the details of an orthopedic procedure, the spread of epidemics, and much more. At the same time, the terminology has an unmatched depth, which enables clinicians to record data at the appropriate level of granularity. The number of concepts in SNOMED CT continues to grow, as illustrated by the graph below. The January 2008 release had 311,000 active concepts, up from 278,000 in 2002. Specific applications tend to focus on a restricted set of SNOMED CT, such as terms related to ophthalmology. These Subsets can be used to present relevant parts of the terminology, depending on the clinical context and local requirements. This means that a drop-down list to select diagnoses in an electronic health record in a mental health facility can be tailored to that setting. Similarly, subsets can be developed to provide appropriate medication pick-lists for nurses in community care. The
