Hello everyone and thanks for the help in advance. I am brand new to using LOINC and I am trying to anchor some basic concepts . I wanted to start off with a basic list of childhood symptoms that might be sued by a pediatrics office. I really don’t know how to get started. Any help would be appreciated.
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Not sure if I asked a terrible question or if this forum isn’t frequented much. If its a bad question, please let me know.
Hello Hugh! Perhaps you can mention more of your starting point. Are you asking the LOINC database to inspire and drive your collection of the list, or do you already have a list of observations gleaned from example pediatric visits?
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Hi Pam! Thanks for the response. My wife is a pediatrician, so we have a full database of various symptoms and diagnosis. We want to create lists of symptoms that patients may choose from prior to their visit. So obviously, we have the basics such a fever, sore throat, rash, etc. But my thinking was to utilize LOINC to more thoroughly map this data rather than just collect the term “fever” for example. So I am not even fully sure if I am approaching this correctly. Any insight would be appreciated.
Welcome to the LOINC Forum, Mr. McLaughlin.
Are you asking about practice in the US? If so, signs, symptoms, and problems as indicated by USDCI would be mapped to SNOMED CT, not LOINC.
Is your wife using an EHR? If so, it would be certified to provide this functionally per the 21st Century Cures Act. The EHR vendor should provide its customers with how this information is collected, mapped to standards (like SNOMED CT), etc.
Here’s a link to the SNOMED CT browser so you can search the codes for the terms: https://browser.ihtsdotools.org/? Here’s “fever” parent (finding) with 22 children types of fevers from which to choose to document as applicable.
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Hi Andrea. First of all, thank you so much for your response. In one small posting, you gave me a myriad of information I did not know existed. My wife practices in the US does use an EHR system, however, the documentation is rather poor and the system does not have a robust interface for patients to input encounter data on their own, for example when you visit a physician and you are handed a clipboard where you answer questions like reason for visit, current symptoms, etc. So we were considering developing something that would allow direct patient input rather than the old clipboard method. Not sure if I’m making sense, but nay additioanl input would be appreciated.
Hello,
Thanks for the additional info. It sounds like your questions are more based on functionality the EHR has/doesn’t have. I recommend contacting their customer support line to ask these questions about how to collect the data in a structured format and if it supports SNOMED mapping. You may find help via a vendor EHR user group where you can post your “howto” questions as other users of the vendor product may share how they have solved the problem too.
I assume the EHR vendor she is using is certified with the functionality specified in the 21st Century Cures Act, so she is compliant with the regulations, especially where providers are required to use a certified EHR/Health IT product? Is someone helping her navigate the regulatory requirements for her practice? Those include the USCDI requirements and standards requirements like SNOMED CT for symptoms and problems.
Unfortunately, EHR functionality is beyond the scope of LOINC as a terminology standard. The EHR vendor can best address functionality of their product.
Hope that helps!
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