You do not need intimate knowledge of all 140+ resource types to be proficient and to work well with FHIR.
A couple of months ago I ran a poll asking how many FHIR resource types readers typically worked with.
The results were surprising.
69% said they worked with only 1-20 resource types.
31% said they worked with 21-70.
No one said they worked with more than 70 resources. No one!
Yes, it was a small poll. But those who answered worked across a wide range of FHIR projects in many different regions.
A mistake developers new to FHIR often make — they focus their time and efforts on understanding individual resource types and not on the fundamentals:
– Data Types
– Terminology
– Resource References
– Search
– Profiles
You shouldn’t feel you need to have a strong understanding of all FHIR resource types.
But — and this is important — be careful you’re not missing out on some great multi-purpose resources.
Examples: Provenance, AuditEvent, List.
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