By: Charlie Harp
During the development of our Symedical software, I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus and RxNorm. As I was going through this journey of discovery, I thought to myself that it might be a good idea to share my findings and experiences with others who might also be looking into using RxNorm and UMLS to enhance or improve their clinical interoperability.
So, to that end, I have created the first of what I hope will be a series of Screen Casts that provide some insight into UMLS and RxNorm.
In this video, I’ll explain how RxNorm can be used to support basic clinical interoperability by standardizing medication terminology across different systems. This is designed for users familiar with RxNorm basics with some database skills, and helps people understand how to work with RxNorm tables to support clinical interoperability. Focusing primarily on the RXNCONSO table, we break down key components like the Concept Unique Identifier (RXCUI), term types (TTY), and how source codes from various vendors (e.g., First Databank, Multum, LexiComp) are normalized into a unified concept structure. This video walks through real-world examples, including mapping ingredients like adenosine and converting codes between systems to support tasks such as allergy screening.
While RxNorm is a powerful tool, it has limitations. Not all vendors provide complete data, and mappings aren’t always straightforward. Developers and informaticists need resilient approaches to handle incomplete or ambiguous mappings. This is where Symedical comes in, Clinical Architecture’s comprehensive terminology mapping solution, which helps streamline the mapping of clinical content (including drugs, labs, allergies, and more) across clinical domains.
Special thanks Jan Willis and the other folks at National Library of Medicine for making this level of interoperability possible, ultimately improving patient safety and data exchange fidelity.
Charlie Harp