A Semantic Network of Disease Identifiers

A pervasive issue in drug database design has long been that of creating a medical vocabulary that accurately connects drug products to various diagnoses and disease states. First DataBank's solution is a specialized medical lexicon of unique Disease Identifiers (DxIDs) that we use to communicate with our clinical modules relating to disease decision-support and dosing. These include modules for drug-disease indications and contraindications; side effects; and dosing—specifically, prescriber order entry and dosage range checking.

Each Disease Identifier in the First DataBank Medical Lexicon is linked to various textbook names, as well as preferred professional names and synonyms; layman names and synonyms; and standard abbreviations. For navigation and alert generation, these Disease Identifiers are linked to each other in a "semantic network" structure, rather than the traditional hierarchical structure of SNOMED-RT and the ICD-9-CM. For migration purposes, DxIDs relate one-to-one to our legacy disease codes (FDBDX). Cross-references are also made between DxIDs and ICD-9-CMs.

The result is a more appropriate and stable set of disease concepts, to eliminate ambiguity when using particular First DataBank clinical modules.