Metadatazione delle tipologie di documenti clinici: un approccio alla standardizzazione mediante LOINC

Achieving semantic interoperability in the healthcare information ecosystem is crucial for efficient data exchange, yet challenging due to the heterogeneous naming conventions used for clinical documents. Although there are systems such as LOINC® to provide unique identifiers, the heterogeneity of document names creates ambiguity and hinders their exchange and long-term preservation, especially in federated electronic health record systems. This paper describes the methodology adopted to standardize document metadata for naming document types within a national digital preservation system by mapping local codes to the LOINC® standard. The results demonstrate the advantages of using LOINC as a tool for standardizing document type names and achieving interoperability. Furthermore, the study’s qualitative reflections contribute to the debate among experts about knowledge organization, digital preservation and categorization of clinical documents.