Can GALEN and existing coding and classification schemes co-exist?
Yes, they can (and they do, in typical use of the GALEN Technology), in two different ways. The first way is by using GALEN Technology to help encode clinical information into existing coding and classification schemes, for example as part of a clinical workstation. This is often required to support statutory requirements that are in force in many countries. This encoding depends on mapping elements of those schemes to the GALEN Common Reference Model. Typically, information captured using the GALEN Common Reference Model is of greater detail than that found in existing schemes (as the GALEN model is designed to support day-to-day clinical care). The automatic classification functionality within the GALEN Terminology Server can be used to find the nearest suitable match in an existing scheme for any, arbitrarily complex, piece of clinical information in the GALEN Common Reference Model. The second way that the GALEN Common Reference Model co-exists with existing coding and classificati
