My first 6 months working with FHIR, I thought: “This is easy.”
The next six months were filled with “I didn’t know you could do that” moments.
Here are 7 FHIR concepts that beginners may not be familiar with. Using them in your project or talking about them to the team is a great way to demonstrate how much you really know about FHIR.
1. Pagination using Bundle link URLs
When the team is new to FHIR they almost always get pagination wrong, often writing server specific code instead of using the links that come in each bundle.
https://hl7.org/fhir/R4/http.html#paging
2. Batch bundles
Criminally underused. Batch bundles are a great way to send multiple different requests to the same server at the same time.
https://darrendevitt.com/batching-get-requests-in-fhir/
3. Resource version history
One of those FHIR concepts that you don’t discover until you really need it. As well as providing a full resource version history, it can help you uncover and restore previously deleted resources.
https://darrendevitt.com/versioning-in-fhir-using-the-_history-parameter/
4. Validating using the $validate operation
Validate a resource in advance against specific profiles before updating the server. This is a great way to control the flow of information to the user and to ensure only valid data enters your FHIR server.
http://www.hl7.org/fhir/validation.html#op
5. The ValueSet $expand operation
Terminology is often pushed to the “advanced” stage of a FHIR project. Don’t make this mistake. Building a better understanding of how ValueSets work and using the $expand operations is a good starting point.
https://build.fhir.org/valueset-operation-expand.html
6. Search modifiers
Fine tune your search queries for more precise results. But be careful here, as not all servers support all modifiers. Test, and test again.
https://www.hl7.org/fhir/search.html#modifiers
7. When to create a new extension
Beginners are casual when it comes to creating extensions. This is always a mistake. Understand the steps you should follow before building and rolling out a new extension.
https://darrendevitt.com/10-steps-to-create-a-new-fhir-extension/
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