Role of RxNorm and NDF-RT Drug Terminologies in Health Information Systems Sharifi Y1, Fazaeli S2, Meraji M2

Due to the lack of comprehensive and standard pharmaceutical terminology, the exchange and processing of drug information effectively, seamlessly and unambiguously, has many problems with pharmacies and hospitals. The purpose of this study was to investigate two major and available terminologies, RxNorm and NDF-RT, their relationship and the use of these terminologies in health information systems. The present study was carried out by narrative review and were studied the documentation related to two selective drug terminology, RxNorm and NDF-RT, from online Datebases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and the official site of the NLM and it was done by combining keywords related to the topic and by the end of November 2017. The results of this study showed that the above-mentioned terminology can be used in the electronic health system, decision support systems, hospital information system with the aim of improving the quality of care, facilitate exchangeability and preventing medical errors. Relationship between these terminologies will also increase the effectiveness and quality of the decisions. The use of these terminologies, especially the relationship between them, will increase the effectiveness and quality of decisions, but for more effective communication between these two terminologies, more research and Addressing some communication challenges are needed.