Visions of new responsibilities
and opportunities for
terminologists and terminology
centres
Katri Seppälä, Director, Finnish Terminology
Centre TSK
Virpi Kalliokuusi, Senior Planning Officer, National
Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of
Information Services
Finnish Terminology Centre TSK
in brief
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was founded as a non-profit association in 1974
offers services to all interested parties (both private and
public organizations)
 produce glossaries, ontologies and concept models
uses standardized principles and methods for
terminology work
develops working methods and tools for terminology and
ontology work
70-75 % of funding comes from projects and the rest
from membership fees and from the Ministry of
Education and Culture
7 employees (6 terminologist and 1 IT expert)
Finnish Terminology Centre TSK
in brief
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activities partly funded by the Ministry of Education and
Culture
 term banks: TEPA (since 1984), IT Terminology
(since 1999)
 Bank and Finance Terminology (since 2001,
separate funding)
 development of standards
 participation in ISO/TC 37 work
 national and international co-operation
 terminology consultation
 quarterly web newsletter Terminfo and other online
information
TSK’s project activities
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during the first years terminology work in TSK was done
mainly for the needs of technical subject fields
 gradually other fields of expertise also showed
interest
until the early 21st century the terminology work driven
by TSK concentrated on supporting human
communication
 since then the need to support human-machine
interaction and information transfer between
machines has become more important
Examples of TSK’s projects
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ontologies for information indexing and retrieval
(National Library’s Finto service, finto.fi), e.g.
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glossaries defining concepts to ease and secure
information transfer between data systems, e.g.
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Ontology for Museum Domain and Applied Arts (2016)
Ontology for Education for Sustainable Development (2015)
Vocabulary of Environmental Health Care Control – Guideline for Use of
Terminology Related to Objects of Control and Control Data (2012)
Vocabulary of Geoinformatics (2014)
Core Concept Group and Concept Modelling Group of public
administration in Finland
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semantic interoperability of the data systems through defining and
modelling core concepts which are commonly used in public
administration organizations
Project model
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all projects are carried out in close co-operation with
subject field specialists
 expert groups work efficiently when different types of
expertise are combined
 the experts learn from each other which makes the
work interesting
 new applications of concept analysis challenge
terminologists
Data modelling and terminology work: case
social services
• Development of uniform client document structures based on
reusable data components
• The overall goal is to ensure that
– client data can be shared by professionals and organizations
– clients can have access to their own data
• via national IT services and client data repositories
• Data modelling is based on systematic terminology work
– Analysis and definition of concepts related to document types and
data components
– Active co-operation between data modelling experts, social
welfare experts and terminologists
• Sanastokeskus TSK involved in several terminology projects
14.11.2016
Virpi Kalliokuusi
9
Vocabulary of information
management in social welfare
• Available in TEPA termbank
http://www.tsk.fi/tepa/
• Published also as a pdf
document
Concept system of general
client document types in
social welfare
14.11.2016
Virpi Kalliokuusi
10
Editor for managing and
distributing
• document structures,
• data components and
• terminologies
Developed by THL (inhouse
software development)
Data fields and components used in one client
document used in child welfare services
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Virpi Kalliokuusi
11
Structured documentation of patient data: case
medication
• Structured documentation of medication data in EHRs
(electronic health records)
• Electronic prescriptions of medication
– Mandatory in Finnish health care system
– Repository of eprescriptions + Pharmaceutical database (part of
national Kanta services)
• Uniform data models needed
– Based on terminological concept analysis and definitions of
concepts
• Classifications and terminologies
• ICD-10, ATC (Anatomic Therapeutic Classification)
• Drug administration, dose form, packages, dispensation etc.
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Virpi Kalliokuusi
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Data models and concept models related to
documentation of medication data in EHRs
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National Code Service and EU level solutions
• National code sets needed for uniform documentation of
patient and client data
– Prepared in expert groups, approval process organized by THL
– Terminological quality assurance
• Active co-operation between subject field experts, data architects and
terminologists needed
• Cross-border exchange of patient data at the European level
– New requirements of semantic interoperability
– Secured data exchange solutions needed
– EU level guidelines, governance models and terminology servers
• Increased need for terminological competence in the future!
14.11.2016
Virpi Kalliokuusi
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Type of contact person
Type of referral
Medication: device
Medication: route of
administration
Nicotine addiction test
14.11.2016
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http://91.202.112.142/codeserver/pages/classification-list-page.xhtml
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Nearly 700 code sets published on the national code server
Open data to all users, esp. IT developers, social and health care professionals
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Information structures and document structures
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Classifications and terminologies
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Technical code sets
Virpi Kalliokuusi
15
Kanta services for
professionals and citizens
http://www.kanta.fi/en/
Thank you!
14.11.2016
Virpi Kalliokuusi
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