My workplace is not currently using DSS. However, in my opinion, it would be beneficial if the healthcare ecosystem in Thailand could choose SNOMED-CT to be established and set as a standard. SNOMED-CT is currently the largest resource of medical terminology, covering diverse medical fields, and Thailand only joined as a member in 2022.
If all hospitals set the same standard and utilize the same DSS (SNOMED-CT), this could meet the key public health solutions of Thailand, which aim to establish uniform standards across all hospitals and achieve semantic interoperability to exchange information effectively and efficiently. Below are factors that might influence the decision support system implementation in Thailand.
Data standardization – SNOMED-CT provides a standardized terminology for clinical concepts, making it easier to capture and share clinical data.
Semantic interoperability – SNOMED-CT is widely adopted and recognized in the healthcare industry, which can facilitate interoperability between different systems and organizations for example of standards necessary for full interoperability of digital health systems and services.
Example scenario: Hospital A sends information with structural format {Miss A diagnosed as Acute Coryza or Acute Rhinitis}, even (Electronics Health Records – EHR) of Hospital B calls this disease as Common Cold, they can understand the concept and description of this disease.
This can be interpreted from code 82272006 of SNOMED CT system to code J00 of ICD-10 system.
Thai language version development – the concepts and terms translation of SNOMED-CT into Thai language can be helpful and be reference/extensions such as to meet the needs of local healthcare systems in each country that this aims to make SNOMED-CT more accessible and provide specific requirements, local clinical practices, terminology preferences, or cultural factors.