4.Concept Editor

Content of this section

The authoring tools allows browsing the terminology and performing unstructured edits. The Concept Editor will show two main panels that are described in the following sections.

4.1 Left Panel

4.1.1 Taxonomy tab

This tab shows SNOMED CT’s taxonomy view. Free browsing through parent-child hierarchies is allowed by clicking when clicking ‘greater than’ icon. Clicking on any concept will select it on the right panel. Also, selecting any orange circle in the taxonomy and dragging it into the right panel (concept area will become yellow when dragging a concept into it) will display it in the right panel.

4.1.1.1 Selecting concepts in the Taxonomy

Step-by-step guide

1. Click a concept text in the taxonomy view to display it on the right panel

Otherwise:

1. Click the orange circle in the taxonomy view
2. Drag it into the right panel until the description field turns yellow

4.1.2 Search tab

This tab allows searching terms containing specific words or parts of words. Search results may be exported to the briefcase.

Search modes

There are three search modes available:

1. Search mode by full text match: Terms that exactly match the search string are retrieved (e.g. the search string ‘appendic’ will retrieve all the descriptions that contain the search string only)
2. Partial matching search mode: Only terms that match the search string within any term are retrieved (e.g. the search string ‘append’ will retrieve all the descriptions that contain appendicitis, appendix, appendage, etc.)
3. Regular expressions search mode: regular terms are used for searching.

Grouping by concept will show the most exact match with the search string, i.e, only one description for each match; otherwise, all the descriptions for a given match are shown, which may result in extensive lists of matches.

Also, matches may be grouped by semantic tag, to show only concepts of the same hierarchy, by language to select descriptions in a given language, by module and/or by refset to improve search specificity.

4.1.2.1 Using search filters

To select search by semantic tag, click the link disorder in the Semantic Tag section of the Search tab. Only disorders with the search terms will be automatically displayed.

4.1.3 Favorites tab

The Favorites list is useful, for example, when there is a need for comparing concepts. 

 In the Concept Details panel, on the right, the Concept Summary tab shows a star. When it is selected, the concept is automatically added to the Favorites tab on the left. The list of favorites is Specific for each browser.

Step-by-step guide

1. Click the star in the concept details panel on the right. The concept will be automatically added to the Favorites list.
2. Click the delete icon besides the concept id to remove a concept from the list
3. Open Export results menu to select a destination (the briefcase or an Excel file.

4.1.4. Activities tab

This tab shows a list of changes done by concept, concept ID, author and time. List members may be ordered alphabetically or chronologically. Specific concepts may be retrieved using the filter option. Complete or partial words may be used for searching in the Activities tab.

4.1.4.1         Ordering activities 

Step-by-step guide

1. Click Order icon in Term cell to order activities alphabetically:

2. Click Order icon in Time cell to order activities chronologically:

3. Write a search term in the Filter window to retrieve text matches:

4.1.5 Concept walker tab

This tab is identical to the Summary tab on the right. It may be used for concept comparisons (e.g. comparing relationships, supertypes, etc.).

Step-by-step guide

1. Select or search for a concept in the Taxonomy tab or in the Search tab
2. Open the Walker tab, click the orange circle in the Concept Details tab and drag the selected concept  into the concept walker text (the area should turn into yellow)

3. Repeat step 1 and select another concept.

4. Open the Walker again. Both concepts are displayed

4.1.6 Classifier tab

Terminology classification is defined as a process that generates a logically consistent subtype classification by applying description logics rules to the stated definitions of a set of concepts. The stated view of a concept definition consists of the relationships directly edited by terminology authors. It consists of the stated subtype relationships plus the defining relationships that exist prior to running a description logic classifier. When classification is applied, inferences are derived by applying a consistent set of logical rules to the definition taking account of the definitions of related concepts. The result is the inferred view.

The classifier is a software tool that applies description logics rules to a set of data to make inferences about the relationships between sets of concepts.

4.1.6.1  Classifying the terminology

Step-by-step guide

1. In the Concept Editor, click Classifier to see previous classifier runs, specifying path name, request time, start time, as well as run duration and status
2. Press Schedule a run to run a new classification.

3. Click more info to see total numbers and lists of new and inactivated 'Is_a', new and inactivated attribute relationships, cycles and equivalent concepts, which are displayed in a modal window.

4. Click Show New 'IS_A' to see new supertype-subtype relationships (idem for 'Inactivated IS_A', 'New attributes', 'Inactivated attributes', 'Cycles detected', and ' Equivalents detected'.

5. Click Show Log to display any messages generated during classification.

4.2 Right panel

This panel contains two tabs for editing functions: Concept Details – for existing concepts – and New Concept, used for creating new concepts. Concept Details tab, in turn, contains ten tabs for editing functions, which will be explained separately.

Concept details bar

This bar is visible with any tab selected and consists in the following:

Eye icon – Shows a list of logged authors when two or more authors are editing the same concept. Also, offers a chat option to interchange messages.

Clock icon – The clock will open the history of concepts selected in the current session.

Refresh icon – Will refresh any open tab 

Options icon will open a modal window displaying different parameters for visualizing concept components that may be selected by the user

4.2.1 Summary tab

Concept details panel opens with the Summary tab, which shows the selected concept with its descriptions and concept ID, its parents and children. Also, any attribute relationships are shown in the light blue box besides the concept. The number of children is shown in brackets, but the list of subtypes (if any) is shown by clicking on Children. Also, clicking on greater than symbols will display the hierarchy. Visualizing stated or inferred views may also be chosen in this tab.

A selected concept may be replaced by one of its children (or parents) by dragging the orange circle from a concept in the hierarchy to the selected concept (the area will turn yellow when the concept is changed). Likewise, parent concepts may also be dragged in the same way into the selection area.

Clicking the star will include the concept in the Favorites list table (see 2.1.3 Favorites tab)