The NICE taxonomy a case study of developing

The NICE taxonomy: a case study of developing a corporate taxonomy Sadia Mughal Health Libraries Conference 19 th July 2010

What will be covered… • • Need for a taxonomy Why develop a taxonomy Requirements of the taxonomy NICE taxonomy: key features Developing the NICE taxonomy Issues encountered Future of the NICE taxonomy Summary

Need for a taxonomy • Merger of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the Health Development Agency (HDA) in April 2005 • Taxonomy developed in-house by the Information Services Team, with consultant advice

Why develop a taxonomy? A classification scheme providing a consistent language across NICE to support website navigation and the efficient search and retrieval of information OR… …a way to organise and make sense of the “NICE universe”

Requirements of the taxonomy • • Cover all subjects within NICE's remit Simple in structure Include both professional and lay terminology Have a single set of: - preferred terms (professional terminology) - non-preferred terms (lay terminology, synonyms and acronyms)

NICE taxonomy: key features 7 top level terms, known as Facets: • • Illness or Condition Medical Specialities NICE People and Populations Public Health Settings Treatments, Procedures and Devices

Facet structure Broader Term (BT) Narrower Term 1 (NT 1) Narrower Term 2 (NT 2) Cancer by Site Cancer by Type ILLNESS OR CONDITION Digestive System Gastrointestinal Diseases Liver Diseases Cardiovascular Individual Facets Pancreatic Diseases Drug Treatments TREATMENTS, PROCEDURES AND DEVICES Surgical Procedures Diagnostic Therapeutic Public Health Practice PUBLIC HEALTH Accidents Health Behaviour Alcohol Misuse

NICE Taxonomy: key features • • Facets are arranged in hierarchical order The taxonomy is multi-hierarchical Contains synonym relationships Half the terms are synonyms Currently contains 1700 terms Updated once a month Managed in Multi. Tes software

Developing the NICE taxonomy Several health terminologies were used: • International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) • Medical Subject Headings (Me. SH) • Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine- Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) • British National Formulary (BNF) • International Classification for Surgical Procedures • Public Health Language (PHL) • Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) • Department of Health (DH) taxonomy

Creating the facets • Top levels of ICD-10, PHL and BNF were used to form respectively, the clinical, public health and drug treatment facets • Me. SH, SNOMED-CT, the DH and IPSV taxonomies were used as sources of terms and synonyms • International Classification for Surgical Procedures was used for surgical procedures terms • IPSV was used to provide 'lay terms' as synonyms

Issues encountered (1) • How simple/complex should the taxonomy be? • How deep should we index? • Solution: to keep the taxonomy simple • Electronic Guidance Access Project (EGAP)

Issues encountered (2) • The need for a review of the taxonomy: – Individual facets evaluated and key issues identified – People and Populations facet – Audience facet (new) – Settings facet

Future of the NICE taxonomy • The new Population, Audience and Settings facets will allow personalisation of guidance. • Pilot test underway • Taxonomy is not perfect, but FIT FOR PURPOSE • Taxonomy is never a finished product

NICE Taxonomy is available at the following web address: bit. ly/nicetaxonomy

Summary • Developed as a browsing, navigation and search tool for the NICE website • Specific requirements of the taxonomy • Structure of the NICE taxonomy • Development of the NICE taxonomy • Issues encountered • Future of the NICE taxonomy

Any questions…? Sadia Mughal Assistant Information Specialist National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Mid. City Place , 71 High Holborn , London WC 1 V 6 NA Email: sadia. mughal@nice. org. uk Tel: 44 (0)20 7045 2104 Web: http: //nice. org. uk