Contents

1. CEN: International Patient Summary (IPS) standard
2. Classification
3. Clinician
4. Data processing
5. Data subject
6. Dictionary of medicines and devices
7. Digital health
8. Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
9. eHealth Network
10. eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure
11. EMA Substances, Products, Organisations, Referentials
12. European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization
13. European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare of the Council of Europe
14. European Medical Device Nomenclature
15. G7 Countries
16. G7-IPS data points
17. General Data Protection Regulation
18. Global Digital Health Partnership
19. HL7: Clinical Document Architecture
20. HL7: Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture
21. HL7: IPS implementation guide
22. HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, Release 4
23. HL7 FHIR International Patient Summary
24. HL7 international
25. Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise
26. International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use
27. International Labour Organization
28. International Patient Summary
29. International Standard Classification of Occupations
30. International Organization for Standardization
31. IPS account
32. IPS record
33. ISO: Identification of Medicinal Products
34. ISO 27269:2021 – International Patient Summary
35. ISO 3166 – Country codes
36. ISO 639-1 – Language code tables
37. ISO 9241-210 – Human-centred design
38. Joint Initiative Council
39. Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes
40. Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities
41. MyHealth@EU
42. Nomenclature for Properties and Units
43. ORPHAcode
44. Patient
45. RxNorm
46. SNOMED CT
47. SNOMED CT Global Patient Set
48. SNOMED International
49. Standards Version Advancement Process
50. Sub-national jurisdiction
51. Trillium Bridge project
52. Unified Code for Units of Measure
53. US Core Data for Interoperability
54. WHO: Anatomical Therapeutic Chemicals classification
55. WHO: International Classification for Diseases
56. WHO: International Classification of Diseases, revision 10
57. WHO: International Classification of Diseases, revision 11
58. WHO: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
59. WHO: International Classification of Health Interventions
60. WHO: International Nonproprietary Names for pharmaceutical substances
61. World Health Organization

CEN: International Patient Summary (IPS) standard

Abbreviation or acronym

CEN or IPS

Definition

Two standards establishing an International Patient Summary – EN 17269:2019 and CEN/TS 17288:2020 – were recently developed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)'s CEN/TC 251 – Health Informatics technical body.

These standards cover the requirements for exchanging a core essential data set of healthcare data to support the continuity of care for a patient, whenever and wherever it is needed.

Source

European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization: New CEN standard TS 17288 'The International Patient Summary: Guideline for European Implementation'

Classification

Definition

Classification is defined as the systematic arrangement of the objects in groups or categories according to fixed criteria. Comparing items according to similarities and differences falls under classification. The 3 major factors are:

• it helps in identifying objects or living organisms
• it helps in understanding and studying the features, similarities and differences between different objects
• it tells us about how the objects are grouped and categorised under different categories

Source

Cuemath: Classification

Clinician

Definition

Any healthcare professional involved in providing treatment, healthcare advice or care to a patient.

The persons or entities (whether public or private) which collect and process personal data. They determine the purpose(s) and means for processing the data. For instance, medical practitioners are usually controllers of their patients' data.

Source

European Patients Forum: The new EU Regulation on the protection of personal data: what does it mean for patients?

Data processing

Definition

Any operation performed on personal data such as:

• collection
• recording
• organisation
• structuring
• storage
• adaptation
• retrieval consultation
• use
• disclosure by transmission
• making available or disseminating
• erasure
• destruction

Source

European Patients Forum: The new EU Regulation on the protection of personal data: what does it mean for patients?

Data subject

Definition

The person the data is about. For example, patients are data subjects when their personal data is processed for healthcare or research purposes. The Regulation also grants rights to data subjects in order to protect their personal data.

Source

European Patients Forum: The new EU Regulation on the protection of personal data: what does it mean for patients?

Dictionary of medicines and devices

Abbreviation or acronym

dm+d

Definition

The dm+d is a dictionary of descriptions and codes that represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS.

Source

NHS Business Services Authority: Dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d)

Digital health

Definition

A broad umbrella term encompassing eHealth, as well as developing areas such as the use of advanced computer sciences (for example, in the fields of 'big data', genomics and artificial intelligence) that plays an important role in strengthening health systems and public health, increasing equity in access to health services, and in working towards universal health coverage.

Source

World Health Organization (WHO) Europe: Digital health

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine

Abbreviation or acronym

DICOM

Definition

Digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) is a standard that establishes rules that allow medical images and associated information to be exchanged between imaging equipment from different vendors, computers and hospitals.

Source

DICOM Secretariat: DICOM Standard

eHealth Network

Definition

"A Europe fit for the digital age" is one of the 6 political priorities of the European Commission between 2019 and 2024. Building upon precedent initiatives enhancing the creation of a Digital Single Market, the digital transition should be something that benefits everyone, putting people first and opening new opportunities for business.

Health is one of the sectors included in this agenda, given the potential benefits that digital services have to offer citizens and enterprises in this area. The eHealth network leads the development and collaboration, progressing the eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure (eHDSI) and MyHealth@EU.

Source

European Commission: eHealth Network

eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure

Abbreviation or acronym

eHDSI

Definition

An infrastructure ensuring the continuity of care for European citizens while they are travelling abroad in the EU. This gives EU countries the possibility to exchange health data in a secure, efficient and interoperable way.

Citizens can easily recognise the availability of the services under the brand 'MyHealth@EU'.

Source

European Commission: eHealth: Digital health and care

EMA Substances, Products, Organisations, Referentials

Abbreviation or acronym

SPOR

Definition

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is implementing the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) identification of medicinal products (IDMP) standards (known as the ISO IDMP standards in a phased programme, based on the 4 domains of master data in pharmaceutical regulatory processes: substance, product, organisation and referential (SPOR) data.

EMA is delivering 4 SPOR data management services for the centralised management of master data that comply with the ISO IDMP standards.

Source

EMA: Substance, product, organisation and referential (SPOR) master data

European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization

Abbreviation or acronym

CENELEC

Definition

The European Electrotechnical Committee for Standardization (CENELEC) is one of three European Standardization Organizations (together with CEN and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)) that have been officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level.

Source

CENELEC: About CENELEC

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare of the Council of Europe

Abbreviation or acronym

EDQM

Definition

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) works with the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM), a directorate of the Council of Europe. The EDQM traces its origins and statutes to a European treaty promoting the elaboration of a common pharmacopoeia in Europe.

The EMA and the EDQM co-operate on matters aimed at ensuring the quality of medicines and protection of public health.

Source

EMA: European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) of the Council of Europe

European Medical Device Nomenclature

Abbreviation or acronym

EMDN

Definition

European Medical Device Nomenclature (EMDN) is the nomenclature that will be of use to manufacturers when registering their medical devices in the European database of medical devices (EUDAMED). It has risen from the requirement in Article 26 of EU MDR 2017/745 and Article 23 of IVDR 2017/746.

Source

i3CGLOBAL: European Medical Device Nomenclature (EMDN CODE)

G7 Countries

Definition

The member countries of the Group of 7 (G7) international organisation. These are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the USA. The European Union is a guest.

Source

G7 UK 2021: What is the G7?

G7-IPS data points

Definition

These could be physical data stores or a process of gathering information, using application programming interfaces (APIs) or similar functionality to collate the patient's information when they access IPS.

General Data Protection Regulation

Abbreviation or acronym

GDPR

Definition

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the information governance regulation implemented throughout the EU and UK.

It lays down rules relating to the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and rules relating to the free movement of personal data.

It protects fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, and in particular their right to the protection of personal data.

The free movement of personal data within the EU shall be neither restricted nor prohibited for reasons connected with the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.

Source

Intersoft Consulting: gdpr-info.eu

Global Digital Health Partnership

Abbreviation or acronym

GDHP

Definition

The Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) is a collaboration of governments and territories, government agencies and the WHO, formed to support the effective implementation of digital health services.

Source

GDHP: Our work

HL7: Clinical Document Architecture

Abbreviation or acronym

HL7 – CDA

Definition

HL7 V2, V3, Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) are the health data exchange standards that were released by the Health Level 7 (HL7) International group.

Source

HL7 International: CDA (HL7 Clinical Document Architecture)

HL7: Consolidated Clinical Document Architecture

Abbreviation or acronym

HL7 – C-CDA

Definition

Consolidated CDA (C-CDA) is one of the most widely implemented implementation guides for CDA and covers a significant scope of clinical care. Its target of the 'common' or 'essential' elements of healthcare is closely aligned with FHIR's focus on the '80%'. There is significant interest in industry and government in the ability to interoperate between CDA and FHIR, and C-CDA is a logical starting point. Implementers and regulators have both expressed an interest in the ability to map between FHIR and C-CDA.

Source

HL7 Structured Documents Working Group: C-CDA on FHIR

HL7: IPS implementation guide

Definition

International Patient Summary implementation guide.

Source

HL7: International Patient Summary Implementation Guide

HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, Release 4

Abbreviation or acronym

HL7.FHIR® R4

Definition

FHIR is an interoperability standard intended to facilitate the exchange of healthcare information between healthcare providers, patients, caregivers, payers, researchers and anyone else involved in the healthcare ecosystem.

Source

HL7: FHIR® R4 (HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, Release 4)

HL7 FHIR International Patient Summary

Abbreviation or acronym

HL7.FHIR

Definition

An International Patient Summary (IPS) document is an electronic health record extract containing essential healthcare information about a subject of care.

Source

HL7: HL7 FHIR® Implementation Guide: International Patient Summary, Release 1

HL7 international

Abbreviation or acronym

HL7

Definition

Founded in 1987, Health Level 7 International (HL7) is a not-for-profit, American National Standards Institute-accredited standards developing organisation dedicated to providing a comprehensive framework and related standards for the exchange, integration, sharing and retrieval of electronic health information that supports clinical practice and the management, delivery and evaluation of health services.

Source

HL7: About HL7

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise

Abbreviation or acronym

IHE

Definition

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information.

IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care.

Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with one another better, are easier to implement and enable care providers to use information more effectively.

Source

IHE: ihe.net

International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use

Abbreviation or acronym

ICH

Definition

The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) is unique in bringing together the regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical industry to discuss scientific and technical aspects of pharmaceuticals and develop ICH guidelines.

Source

ICH: ich.org

International Labour Organization

Abbreviation or acronym

ILO

Definition

The International Labour Organization is a United Nations (UN) agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.

Source

ILO: About the ILO

International Patient Summary

Abbreviation or acronym

IPS

Definition

An International Patient Summary (IPS) document is an electronic health record extract containing essential healthcare information about a subject of care (patient).

International Standard Classification of Occupations

Abbreviation or acronym

ISCO

Definition

Produced by the ILO, the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) is a tool for organising jobs into a clearly defined set of groups according to the tasks and duties undertaken in the job. Its main aims are to provide a:

• basis for the international reporting, comparison and exchange of statistical and administrative data about occupations
• model for the development of national and regional classifications of occupations
• system that can be used directly in countries that have not developed their own national classifications

Source

ILO: ISCO

International Organization for Standardization

Abbreviation or acronym

ISO

Definition

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization develops and publishes worldwide technical, industrial and commercial standards.

Source

ISO: About us

IPS account

Definition

Before accessing their IPS record, patients will need an IPS account to have their identity verified.

IPS record

Definition

An individual patient's IPS record.

ISO: Identification of Medicinal Products

Abbreviation or acronym

IDMP

Definition

The ISO Identification of Medicinal Products(IDMP) standards specify the use of standardised definitions for the identification and description of medicinal products for human use. Their purpose is to facilitate the reliable exchange of medicinal product information in a robust and consistent manner.

Source

EMA: Data on medicines (ISO IDMP standards): Overview

ISO 27269:2021 – International Patient Summary

Abbreviation or acronym

ISO 27269

Definition

Defines the core data set for a patient summary document that supports continuity of care for a person and co-ordination of their healthcare. It is specifically aimed at supporting the use case scenario for 'unplanned cross-border care' and is intended to be an IPS.

Source

ISO: ISO 27269:2021 Health informatics – International patient summary

ISO 3166 – Country codes

Abbreviation or acronym

ISO 3166

Definition

The international standard for country codes and codes for their subdivisions.

Source

ISO: ISO 3166 – Country codes

ISO 639-1 – Language code tables

Abbreviation or acronym

ISO 639-1

Definition

The ISO's language code tables.

Source

ISO 639-3 Registration Authority: ISO 639 Code Tables

ISO 9241-210 – Human-centred design

Abbreviation or acronym

ISO 9241

Definition

ISO 9241-210:2010 provides requirements and recommendations for human-centred design principles and activities throughout the life cycle of computer-based interactive systems.

Source

ISo: ISO 9241-210:2019 Ergonomics of human-system interaction – Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems

Joint Initiative Council

Abbreviation or acronym

JIC

Definition

The Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC) is formed to further the important role of health informatics standards to:

• enable interoperability of information and processes across health domains
• support the timely and efficient delivery of safe, coordinated, accountable and high-quality health services to individuals, communities and populations
• facilitate effective global markets for health information systems

Source

JIC: jointinitiativecouncil.org

Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes

Abbreviation or acronym

LOINC

Definition

Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) is a database and universal standard for identifying medical laboratory observations. First developed in 1994, it was created and is maintained by the Regenstrief Institute, a US non-profit medical research organisation.

Source

LOINC from Regenstrief: About LOINC

Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities

Abbreviation or acronym

MedDRA

Definition

The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a rich and highly specific standardised medical terminology to facilitate the sharing of regulatory information internationally for medical products used by humans.

Source

ICH: meddra.org

MyHealth@EU

Definition

New electronic cross-border health services – including ePrescriptions and IPS – which are being established progressively in 25 EU countries until the end of 2025.

Source

European Commission: eHealth: Digital health and care

Nomenclature for Properties and Units

Abbreviation or acronym

NPU

Definition

Nomenclature for Properties and Units (NPU) terminology is a patient-centred clinical laboratory terminology for use in the clinical laboratory sciences. Its function is to enable results of clinical laboratory examinations to be used safely across technology, time and geography.

Source

NPU Terminology: npu-terminology.org

ORPHAcode

Abbreviation or acronym

ORPHA

Definition

In order to effectively monitor and report on rare diseases, it was essential to establish a common language with codes specifically for rare diseases. Orphanet is the international reference resource for information on rare diseases and orphan drugs, for all audiences.

The Orphanet nomenclature of rare diseases (ORPHAcode) has been recognised as the most appropriate nomenclature for clinical coding of rare diseases in Europe. ORPHAcode is a unique, time-stable and non-reusable numerical identifier.

Source

RD-CODE: Introduction – What are ORPHAcodes?

Patient

Definition

A person receiving or registered to receive medical treatment.

Source

Oxford University Press: Oxford Languages – Google's English dictionary

RxNorm

Abbreviation or acronym

RxNorm

Definition

Developed by the US National Library of Medicine, RxNorm provides normalised names for clinical drugs and links its names to many of the drug vocabularies commonly used in pharmacy management and drug interaction software.

Source

National Library of Medicine: Unified Medical Language System – RxNorm

SNOMED CT

Abbreviation or acronym

SNOMED CT

Definition

Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is a structured clinical vocabulary for use in an electronic health record. It is the most comprehensive and precise clinical health terminology product in the world.

Source

SNOMED International: The value of SNOMED CT

SNOMED CT Global Patient Set

Abbreviation or acronym

SNOMED GPS

Definition

The Global Patient Set (GPS) is a managed collection of existing SNOMED CT reference sets released by SNOMED International. The GPS is comprised of unique identifiers, fully specified names, preferred terms in international English and active or inactive status flags.

Source

SNOMED International: gps.snomed.org

SNOMED International

Abbreviation or acronym

SNOMED

Definition

SNOMED International determines global standards for health terms, an essential part of improving the health of humankind. They are committed to maintaining and growing our leadership as the global experts in healthcare terminology, ensuring that SNOMED CT is accepted as the global common language for clinical terms.

Source

SNOMED International: snomed.org

Standards Version Advancement Process

Abbreviation or acronym

SVAP

Definition

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has established the voluntary Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP) to enable health IT developers' ability to incorporate newer versions of secretary-adopted standards and implementation specifications, as part of the Real World Testing condition and maintenance of certification requirement 170.405 of the US's 21st Century Cures Act.

Source

ONC: 21st Century Cures – Standards Version Advancement Process (SVAP)

Sub-national jurisdiction

Definition

This is used to refer to any subdivision of a country, such as

• provinces (Canada)
• territories (Canada)
• states (US)
• home nations (UK)
• devolved administrations (UK)

Trillium Bridge project

Definition

IPS standards consistently adapted and localised to serve the needs of specific use cases are essential to attaining the vision of the patient summary as a social good and human right. The Trillium Bridge project (2013 to 2015) compared patient summary standards and specification in Europe and the US, and demonstrated the technical feasibility of exchanging electronic health record summaries across the Atlantic in the context of emergency or unplanned care abroad.

Source

Trillium II: trillium2.eu/

Unified Code for Units of Measure

Abbreviation or acronym

UCUM

Definition

The Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) is a code system intended to include all units of measures being contemporarily used in international science, engineering and business. The purpose is to facilitate unambiguous electronic communication of quantities together with their units.

Source

National Library of Medicine: Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM)

US Core Data for Interoperability

Abbreviation or acronym

USCDI

Definition

The United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) is a standardised set of health data classes and constituent data elements for nationwide, interoperable health information exchange.

Source

ONC: United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI)

WHO: Anatomical Therapeutic Chemicals classification

Abbreviation or acronym

ATC

Definition

In the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, the active substances are divided into different groups according to the organ or system on which they act and their therapeutic, pharmacological and chemical properties. Drugs are classified in groups at 5 different levels. The ATC is maintained by the WHO.

Source

WHO: ATC-DDD Toolkit – Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification

WHO: International Classification for Diseases

Abbreviation or acronym

ICD

Definition

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a globally used diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. The ICD is maintained by the WHO.

Source

WHO: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)

WHO: International Classification of Diseases, revision 10

Abbreviation or acronym

ICD-10

Definition

Revision 10 of the ICD.

Source

WHO: International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD)

WHO: International Classification of Diseases, revision 11

Abbreviation or acronym

ICD-11

Definition

Revision 11 of the ICD.

Source

WHO: icd.who.int

WHO: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

Abbreviation or acronym

ICF

Definition

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a classification of health and health-related domains.

Source

WHO: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)

WHO: International Classification of Health Interventions

Abbreviation or acronym

ICHI

Definition

The International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) is a common tool for reporting and analysing health interventions for clinical and statistical purposes.

ICHI covers interventions carried out by a broad range of providers across the full scope of health systems and includes interventions on diagnostic, medical, surgical, mental health, primary care, allied health, functioning support, rehabilitation, traditional medicine and public health.

Source

WHO: International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI)

WHO: International Nonproprietary Names for pharmaceutical substances

Abbreviation or acronym

INN

Definition

International Non-proprietary Names (INN) identify pharmaceutical substances or active pharmaceutical ingredients. Each INN is a unique name that is globally recognised and is public property. A non-proprietary name is also known as a generic name.

Source

WHO: Health product and policy standards – INN and classification of medical products

World Health Organization

Abbreviation or acronym

WHO

Definition

Founded in 1948, WHO is the UN agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health.

WHO leads global efforts to expand universal health coverage. It directs and coordinates the world's response to health emergencies. And it promote healthier lives – from pregnancy care through old age. Its Triple Billion targets outline an ambitious plan for the world to achieve good health for all, using science-based policies and programmes.

Source

WHO: About WHO