Applicability of the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing to the Detailed Clinical Models of Perinatal Care Nursing Assessments

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to examine the applicability of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) reference terminology model for nursing to describe the terminological value domain content regarding the entities and attributes of the detailed clinical models (DCMs) used for nursing assessments. METHODS The first author mapped 52 DCM entities and 45 DCM attributes used for perinatal care nursing assessments to semantic domains and their qualifiers to the ISO model. The mapping results of the entity and attribute concepts were classified into four categories: mapped to a semantic domain qualifier, mapped to a semantic domain, mapped to a broader semantic domain concept, and not mapped. The DCM mapping results were classified into three categories: fully mapped, partially mapped, and not mapped. The second author verified the mapping. RESULTS All of the entities and 53.3% of the attribute concepts of the DCMs were mapped to semantic domains or semantic domain qualifiers of the ISO model, 37.8% of the attributes were mapped to the broader semantic domain concept, and 8.9% of the attributes were not mapped. At the model level, 48.1% of the DCMs were fully mapped to semantic domains or semantic domain qualifiers of the ISO model, and 51.9% of the DCMs were partially mapped. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study demonstrate that the ISO reference terminology model for nursing is applicable in representing the DCM structure for perinatal care nursing assessment. However, more qualifiers of the Judgment semantic domain are required in order to clearly and fully represent all of the entities and attributes of the DCMs used for nursing assessment.