Report on the Project for Establishment of the Standardized Korean Laboratory Terminology Database, 2015

Abstract

The National Health Information Standards Committee was established in 2004 in Korea. The practical subcommittee for laboratory test terminology was placed in charge of standardizing laboratory medicine terminology in Korean. We aimed to establish a standardized Korean laboratory terminology database, Korea-Logical Observation Identifier Names and Codes (K-LOINC) based on former products sponsored by this committee. The primary product was revised based on the opinions of specialists. Next, we mapped the electronic data interchange (EDI) codes that were revised in 2014, to the corresponding K-LOINC. We established a database of synonyms, including the laboratory codes of three reference laboratories and four tertiary hospitals in Korea. Furthermore, we supplemented the clinical microbiology section of K-LOINC using an alternative mapping strategy. We investigated other systems that utilize laboratory codes in order to investigate the compatibility of K-LOINC with statistical standards for a number of tests. A total of 48,990 laboratory codes were adopted (21,539 new and 16,330 revised). All of the LOINC synonyms were translated into Korean, and 39,347 Korean synonyms were added. Moreover, 21,773 synonyms were added from reference laboratories and tertiary hospitals. Alternative strategies were established for mapping within the microbiology domain. When we applied these to a smaller hospital, the mapping rate was successfully increased. Finally, we confirmed K-LOINC compatibility with other statistical standards, including a newly proposed EDI code system. This project successfully established an up-to-date standardized Korean laboratory terminology database, as well as an updated EDI mapping to facilitate the introduction of standard terminology into institutions.

Statues and Improvement of Electronic Medical Record System in Traditional Korean Medicine

“…When it comes to names of symptom and treatment as well as record method in the chart, however, no standardization was yet to be made. In view of prior studies published at the time of EMR utilization [ 7 ], the issue of standardization had continuously been reported even in physical medicine, and the subsequent efforts to develop such standardization in terminology for each field of the physical medicine have been aggressively made in pursuit of high quality of medical record [ 10 ]. In Korea, the Korea Standard Terminology of Medicine (KOSTOM) has been developed since 2009, established in 2014 on notification and then revised up to the present [ 9 ].…”

Ensuring Interoperability of Laboratory Tests and Results: A Linguistic Approach for Mapping French Laboratory Terminologies with LOINC

“…Existing approaches for mapping local terminologies with LOINC rely on extensive pre-processing of local terminologies to facilitate automated matching processing. Common pre-processing steps include harmonization of local terminologies [3], adoption of synonyms [6], resolution of abbreviations associated with an augmentation of local terms with definitions and annotations. Existing tools for mapping pre-processed local terminologies with LOINC typically compute concept similarities using the fully specified names.…”

Incorporation of Korean Electronic Data Interchange Vocabulary into Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Vocabulary

“…For this reason, every Korean Electronic Health Record (EHR) system uses the EDI vocabulary for most drugs, medical procedures, and devices. However, most hospitals have developed their own medical vocabulary systems because of the limited granularity of the EDI vocabulary [ 4 ]. Furthermore, the EDI vocabulary has not been acknowledged as a standard vocabulary in the way that the Current Procedural Terminology, fourth edition has in the United States because the quality of the EDI has never been audited.…”