BS EN 12435:2006 - Page 3

Health informatics. Expression of results of measurements in health sciences. | Status: Confirmed, Current

1 Scope This document is intended for use by parties to the design, development, acquisition, use and monitoring of health-care related information and information systems. It provides a list of units of measurement to be used in representing values of measurable quantities in health sciences. The International System of Units forms the basis for this EN. Units with their associated kinds-of-quantity are arranged in order of dimension in Tables 1, 2 and 4 (Clause 5), and in Annex A. Different kinds-of-quantity may apply to a given combination of component(s) and system. Often the different quantities are interconvertible and examples of such interconvertibility are given in Annex C. Tables of conversion factors (Annex A) are provided from units in current use to SI units or their multiples. To represent the result of a measurement (Clause 6), this EN addresses requirements for the following:

• — relational operator (Clause 4)
• — numerical value (Subclause 6.1)
• — uncertainty of measurement (Subclause 6.2; Annex D)
• — unit of measurement (Clause 5).

This EN covers the requirements for representation of these data elements in displayed and printed form, and provides an approach for support of languages in non-Roman alphabets (Clause 7). The scope of this standard is limited to textual representation. Support is not provided for the display or printing of images or graphs. This standard does not cover the requirements for expression of the results of measurements in speech, speech synthesis or handwriting. It does not cover the form and syntax of requests for clinical measurements, nor detailed aspects of data transmission. It refers the user to other CEN standards that address the detailed specification of the interchange format. It does not address the syntax for recording of natural-language statements about quantities, such as those used in recording information about drugs dispensed or about treatment of patients. It does not cover the units of financial quantities, which are covered by ISO 4217.