ISO 17439:2022

Overview

ISO 17439:2022 - Health informatics - Development of terms and definitions for health informatics glossaries - defines the metadata and quality requirements for creating and managing terms and definitions used in health informatics standards and organizational glossaries. Published by ISO/TC 215 in 2022, this first edition replaces ISO/TS 17439:2014 and focuses on harmonizing glossary content across standards development organizations (SDOs) to improve clarity and interoperability in health informatics.

Key topics and requirements

• Scope and limits: Applies to terms and definitions included in standards and glossaries; it does not prescribe terminological content for clinical terminologies or coding systems (e.g., SNOMED CT, ICD).
• Metadata requirements: Specifies essential metadata for each glossary entry such as term entry, definition, context, source, usage comments, images, linked documents, status, version, version date, and rationale for change.
• Glossary management processes: Outlines processes for creating, reviewing, linking and maintaining term entries to support consistent usage across documents and organizations.
• Governance: Introduces governance procedures (Clause 5) to manage life cycle, harmonization and change control of glossary entries.
• Interoperability with metadata standards: References the Dublin Core metadata model and explains how ISO 17439 extends its functionality for health informatics glossary needs.
• Terminology principles: Aligns with general guidance from ISO 704 and ISO/IEC 2382 for developing precise, usable definitions.

Applications and who uses it

ISO 17439:2022 is practical for anyone responsible for semantic quality and consistency in health information standards and systems:

• Health informatics standards developers and SDOs managing shared glossaries.
• Developers and implementers of health information systems, EHR/EMR systems, and clinical decision support who need consistent term definitions.
• Data managers, analysts, researchers, statisticians, public health agencies, insurers, and other consumers of clinical data who rely on unambiguous definitions for aggregation, reporting and research.
• Governance bodies and tool providers - e.g., the SKMT Glossary (Standards Knowledge Management Tool) and JIC initiatives - using the specified metadata to harmonize and publish glossary content.

Related standards

• ISO 704 (principles and methods of terminology work)
• ISO/IEC 2382 (vocabulary for information technology)
• Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (metadata baseline referenced and extended)
• Terminological resources mentioned for context: SNOMED CT, ICD (explicitly excluded from content specification)

ISO 17439:2022 helps ensure clear, maintainable, and interoperable glossary entries in health informatics standards - improving communication, reuse, and quality of clinical data across systems and organizations.