1 research outputs found
Recommendations for ECG diagnostic coding
The Oxford dictionary defines code as "a body of laws so related to each
other as to avoid inconsistency and overlapping". It is obvious that natural
language with its high degree of ambiguity does not qualify as a code in the
sense of this definition. Everyday experiences provide ample evidence that
natural language, because of its richness and lack of uniqueness, is subject to
multiple interpretations and thus not suitable for conveying ideas or data in
an unequivocal, uniform and concise manner. For this reason codes have
been developed and used in several areas of medicine [1-3] to describe,
document, and transmit qualitative medical data. It is rather surprising that
electrocardiography has been able to exist for so long without any formalized
language to describe its findings. Increased use of electrocardiograms in epidemiology,
large scale electrocardiographic studies and last but not least computerized
EeG interpretation have provided incentives to develop codes. Initial
efforts in this direction [4-6] were primarily guided by loc al needs for
improved storage, retrieval and handling of information; without major
modifications they do not, however, satisfy all the requirements one expects
from an EeG code today. Nevertheless, the experience gained in the use of
these early EeG codes provides an important source of information on which to build specifications for a new or expanded code. It is significant that several
members of this working group have been extensive users of the Booth-Hull
code [4] and the Utrecht coding system [5]