Avoid Duplicates! Avoid Duplicates!
When creating a new concept, use the "similar concepts" resources and/or search your dictionary carefully to be certain that there is not already a concept that meets your needs.
- Create synonyms (alternative, valid names) for your concepts. This helps people find the concept and will help you avoid creating duplicates.
Concept Naming
- Only use alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers) and simple punctuation sparingly (e.g., comma or parentheses).
- Descriptions may contain non-alphanumeric characters
- Sentence-casing is recommended – i.e., either all lowercase or uppercase first letter.
- Avoid using all uppercase
- For drug names, some people use Tall Man Lettering to uppercase certain parts of drug names that are confused by providers, since this has been proven to reduce medication errors.
- Be consistent!
- Consistency in naming helps users predict concept names and makes the dictionary much easier to manage.
Design for Re-use
Well-designed concepts can be used in several different contexts (e.g., multiple, different forms).
- Avoid making your symptoms & diagnoses concepts boolean; rather, use datatype N/A for these and use them as answers (not questions). This promotes re-use of these concepts.
- POOR DESIGN: a boolean "HIV" concept answered yes/no based on whether or not the patient has HIV.
- GOOD DESIGN: a coded "DIAGNOSES" or "PROBLEM ADDED" concept that is answered with the concept HIV (the HIV concept has datatype N/A).
Others Tips
- Always work with your end users to ensure the your concept names make sense to them and match their workflows.
See Also
- The MVP-CIEL concept dictionary is a valuable resource (either as a starting dictionary or to look for best practices)
- Notes from the 2012-Sep-12 OpenMRS University forum, where concept management experts discussed best practices.