Terminology Is Unclear

Nothing is as Clear as Unclear: Iivari's response

Unclear symptoms--fatal outcome.

Urosepsis during the first months of life is not entirely uncommon and occurs most frequently in boys, mainly due to urogenital abnormalities (1). Posterior urethral valves, which only occur in boys, manifest themselves in different ways, and when detected pre-natally a pronounced hydronephrosis is an indication for prenatal drainage (2). Postna-tally, urosepsis may be the first symptom – if th...

Descriptive educational terminology

This article has no abstract.

An unclear, chronic nasal ulcer

A 44-year-old Brazilian man presented with an eight-month history of runny nose, hoarseness and progressive gingival swelling, which interfered greatly with nourishment and oral hygiene. The nasal lesion had appeared three years previous to his visit, while the gingival lesions had been present for a few months. The patient had been already seen by general practitioners and dentists and had rec...

Clinical terminology: why is it so hard?

Despite years of work, no re-usable clinical terminology has yet been demonstrated in widespread use. This paper puts forward ten reasons why developing such terminologies is hard. All stem from underestimating the change entailed in using terminology in software for 'patient centred' systems rather than for its traditional functions of statistical and financial reporting. Firstly, the increase...