UKCPRS and coding of medicines — standards or secrets?
The need for, and development of, the NHS dictionary of medicines and
devices for computerised systems is described by Paul Frosdick,
Julie James and Christine Dalton.
abstract
A standard coding scheme that codes the names of medicines and personal
medical devices for use by computerised clinical information systems
throughout the NHS is a fundamental element of national care records.
Such a standard sits at the heart of electronic clinical data records,
messaging and in supporting the development of added-value services that
will improve patient safety. The NHS Information Authority’s UK Clinical
Products Reference Source (UKCPRS) programme is developing such a standard,
the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices.
The Dictionary is based on a data model with the flexibility to
support developments in the domain that integrates with the wider field of
clinical terminology, and is delivered through a programme structure that
will convert the ‘standard’ from a concept into a service.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2004; 21(5): 29–31. |
