Stream: terminology
Topic: Non-unique display strings?
Paul Lynch (Mar 08 2022 at 16:16):
I saw someone in this stream mention that 'display' does not have to be unique within a code system, and I can't find anything in the documentation that asserts otherwise. When presenting a list of coded options to a user, how is a user supposed to choose between two options with the same display string?
Daniel Venton (Mar 08 2022 at 18:12):
I would have to assume that there is another attribute in play. Perhaps one of the codes is deprecated. Perhaps one of the codes is an abstract or a branch (not a leaf) and isn't supposed to be used as a leaf. Ultimately you'd have to take it up with the author of the code system as to why two different codes have the same display/definition.
Lloyd McKenzie (Mar 08 2022 at 19:23):
Typically it's tied to associations/relationships. If all you see is the display, the user's going to have a problem. So typically, with a value set you'll either constrain to codes with distinct displays where the context implicit in the display aligns with the context of the data element, or you'll define valueset-specific designations that provide the additional context/uniqueness.
Lloyd McKenzie (Mar 08 2022 at 19:27):
The challenge we have is that people don't want to see redundant context. If you're looking at a UI that says "Arm fracture: type", you don't want to see a list of codes that say "compound arm fracture", "greenstick arm fracture", "arm stress fracture" - you just want to see "compound", "greenstick", "stress". However, those displays would make perfect sense if the UI prompt was "Injury type". Different code systems make different assumptions about UI context, and thus impose different rules on display names.
Robert McClure (Mar 11 2022 at 17:15):
@Lloyd McKenzie is right, the meaning of the display is tied to the "fully specified meaning" which could be in an alternate display and would usually include some semantic type information, and additionally in the concept context (IE: the relationships.) "Cold" is a classic example that can occur in a code system as the display for multiple concepts (temperature and condition.)
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
