1.1 General

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a form of traditional medicine that originated in China, and is

characterized by holism and treatment based on pattern identification/syndrome differentiation. The

Technical Specification establishes common concepts and a vocabulary for describing the complex

domain of various Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) informatics standards initiatives and their

supporting artefacts. It provides a useful profiling framework to align existing and developing TCM

informatics standards and to reference health informatics standards. It promotes the reuse of TCM

informatics knowledge and improves the identification of opportunities for TCM informatics standards

alignment, collaboration, and coordination.

Topics considered outside the scope of this Technical Specification include:

— profiling framework and classification for informatics standards of Kampo, Korean medicine, and

other traditional medicine.

1.2 Main purpose

The framework has been developed to address different needs of TCM informatics and compare with

health informatics standards. The specific needs addressed in this Technical Specification are the

following:

— provide the capability to comprehensively define and classify TCM informatics standards artefacts;

— facilitate the coordination, communication, and comparability of TCM informatics standards

through a common understanding of intended users and content;

— help identify and coordinate TCM informatics standards development;

— promote TCM informatics standards integration and alignment within and between standards from

different Standards Development Organizations (SDOs); and

— provide a framework to assist with the coordination of ISO/TC 215 work items both within the

technical committee and with related TCs, including ISO/TC 249 and ISO/TC 46.

1.3 Benefits

The potential benefits of the Technical Specification include the following:

— introduction of classification concepts and terminology for TCM informatics standard artefacts;

— enhancement of TCM informatics standards development coordination through the identification of

potential duplication between standards initiatives;



— enhancement of global understanding of TCM informatics standards in support of their knowledge

management.

1.4 Target groups

The target groups include the following:

— managers and reviewers of TCM informatics standards;

— developers of TCM informatics standards;

— users of TCM informatics standards.