Practical definition of SNOMED CT concepts: The case of education, advice and counselling.

Rigour is needed in the construction of health terminologies to avoid introducing ambiguity and error into clinical records. When two large scale terminologies (SNOMED RT and Clinical terms Version 3) were merged to form SNOMED CT) a number duplicate and ambiguous concepts were introduced. The SNOMED nursing working group was tasked with producing a draft editorial policy to resolve duplications and ambiguities in terms related to education, advice and counselling.