Digital health · Meaning
Clinical terminologies
ICD, SNOMED CT, LOINC and ATC. Four vocabularies, each doing a job the others cannot.
Which is used for what
The division of labour
| Terminology | Used for | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| SNOMED CT | Conditions, findings and clinical observations | Screening findings, problem list |
| ICD-10 CM/PCS and ICD-11 | Diagnosis and statistical classification | Diagnosis, reporting, surveillance |
| LOINC | Laboratory and investigation results | Blood picture, thyroid, lipid panels |
| ATC | Medication classification | Prescribing and medication history |
| DICOM | Medical imaging | CT, MRI and other studies |
Coded at source
The principle that makes it work
Why this matters to a school
One paragraph, non-technical
If a clinician writes “low haemoglobin” in a box, the school gets a sentence. If the same finding is captured as a coded observation, the school gets a count — how many children in year six, compared with last year, compared with the district. The clinical work is identical. The difference is entirely in how it is written down.
See the capture control.
How coding happens without slowing the clinician down.