Quality Assurance

One of the highest priorities for Members of IHTSDO is to ensure the quality and safety of SNOMED CT. IHTSDO’s Quality Assurance Committee and Chief Quality Officer lead this program. The Quality Assurance Framework, approved last year, provides overall guidance for IHTSDO’s activities in this area.

In 2009, a broad spectrum of projects and groups tested the Quality Assurance Framework. The Committee is using feedback from their experiences to update the Framework and associated Toolkit, as well as to track progress with the Framework’s implementation.

One of the areas of focus in 2009 was on the quality assurance of SNOMED CT content. We issue revisions to the International Release of SNOMED CT twice per year to meet the needs of users from around the world. Prior to release, the SNOMED CT content undergoes a quality assurance process. So do the updated derivatives and crossmaps that are included in all releases. A large number of automated checks ensure that changes made to SNOMED CT conform to established guidelines. Experts also review changes before they are committed into the release. A preliminary version is then pre-released to Members for broader review before the final files are generated and distributed.

Progress in 2009 on coordination of the human readable concept model (Style Guide and User Guide) with the Machine Readable Concept Model (MRCM) should support further improvements of the quality and consistency of SNOMED CT content in the future. An initial version of MRCM was completed, and it was machine tested against July 2009 release. An initial release of the MRCM was posted on the Collaborative WorkSpace, along with coordinated and updated version of the User Guide (“human-readable concept model”). Reconciliation activities, as well as incorporation of key aspects of the MRCM into the IHTSDO Workbench modules, are planned for 2010.

To complement these processes, we aim to pilot and implement a set of quality metrics. In 2009, the support organization produced production metrics for the Quality Assurance Committee. However, quantitative measures to demonstrate adherence to editorial guidance has only partially been achieved. More effort will be required in 2010 and beyond.

The Committee also issued a survey to submitters of requests for changes to SNOMED CT. Results will inform efforts to improve this process as well as to create meaningful metrics to monitor it. The vast majority of survey respondents said that they were somewhat or very satisfied with the process. We received many useful comments about aspects of the process that could be improved, as well as valuable features that we should maintain.

In terms of broad quality metrics, we contracted for a review of options and key informant interviews to provide us with advice on how best to proceed. The Committee and Chief Quality Officer will be reviewing the results in 2010. Ways of reporting on progress with quality, such as the eLetter, are also being explored.



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About SNOMED CT Value Proposition for SNOMED CT SNOMED CT Lookup Service Release of SNOMED CT Licensing Namespaces History of SNOMED CT Request Submission Member Exchange Quality Assurance Tooling	Quality Assurance One of the highest priorities for Members of IHTSDO is to ensure the quality and safety of SNOMED CT. IHTSDO’s Quality Assurance Committee and Chief Quality Officer lead this program. The Quality Assurance Framework, approved last year, provides overall guidance for IHTSDO’s activities in this area. In 2009, a broad spectrum of projects and groups tested the Quality Assurance Framework. The Committee is using feedback from their experiences to update the Framework and associated Toolkit, as well as to track progress with the Framework’s implementation. One of the areas of focus in 2009 was on the quality assurance of SNOMED CT content. We issue revisions to the International Release of SNOMED CT twice per year to meet the needs of users from around the world. Prior to release, the SNOMED CT content undergoes a quality assurance process. So do the updated derivatives and crossmaps that are included in all releases. A large number of automated checks ensure that changes made to SNOMED CT conform to established guidelines. Experts also review changes before they are committed into the release. A preliminary version is then pre-released to Members for broader review before the final files are generated and distributed. Progress in 2009 on coordination of the human readable concept model (Style Guide and User Guide) with the Machine Readable Concept Model (MRCM) should support further improvements of the quality and consistency of SNOMED CT content in the future. An initial version of MRCM was completed, and it was machine tested against July 2009 release. An initial release of the MRCM was posted on the Collaborative WorkSpace, along with coordinated and updated version of the User Guide (“human-readable concept model”). Reconciliation activities, as well as incorporation of key aspects of the MRCM into the IHTSDO Workbench modules, are planned for 2010. To complement these processes, we aim to pilot and implement a set of quality metrics. In 2009, the support organization produced production metrics for the Quality Assurance Committee. However, quantitative measures to demonstrate adherence to editorial guidance has only partially been achieved. More effort will be required in 2010 and beyond. The Committee also issued a survey to submitters of requests for changes to SNOMED CT. Results will inform efforts to improve this process as well as to create meaningful metrics to monitor it. The vast majority of survey respondents said that they were somewhat or very satisfied with the process. We received many useful comments about aspects of the process that could be improved, as well as valuable features that we should maintain. In terms of broad quality metrics, we contracted for a review of options and key informant interviews to provide us with advice on how best to proceed. The Committee and Chief Quality Officer will be reviewing the results in 2010. Ways of reporting on progress with quality, such as the eLetter, are also being explored.