Definition

The Coding_DrugCode extract is the reference table for all drug and medication codes used in prescribing records across the IM1 extract. It maps EMIS internal drug code identifiers to their dm+d (Dictionary of Medicines and Devices) product codes and provides the lookup layer needed to interpret drug entries in prescribing tables.

Information

The Coding_DrugCode extract is a common table — it is not scoped to an individual agreement and is delivered once per extract run. It links to Coding_ClinicalCode via codeid, meaning drug codes inherit the broader clinical code hierarchy and can be enriched with SNOMED CT and Read v2 terminology from that reference table.

Note: The bnfchapterref column was discontinued in schema version 8.1 and is now always returned as NULL.

Each drug code record is uniquely identified by codeid.

Key Identifiers

• codeid: The unique EMIS internal identifier for this drug code. Used as the join key in Prescribing_DrugRecord and Prescribing_IssueRecord. Also joins to Coding_ClinicalCode for terminology enrichment.
• dmdproductcodeid: The dm+d (Dictionary of Medicines and Devices) product code — the NHS standard drug identifier used for national interoperability with FHIR, EPS, and medication management systems.

Descriptive Fields

• term: The display name of the drug as shown in EMIS Web.

Practical Use

flowchart TB
  subgraph container["Data Collection"]
    n1["Drug Code & Name"]
    n2["Form & Strength"]
    n3["SNOMED Drug ID"]
  end

  n17["EMIS Drug Code System"] --> container
  n18["Drug Reference Data"] --> container

  container --> n16["Gather drug codes"]
  n16 --> n14["ETL"]
  n14 --> n15["Coding_DrugCode Model"]