FHIR encompasses a wide and diverse array of healthcare domains across 145 resource types.
Last year I ran a survey where I asked people working with FHIR a number of questions. One of those questions was aimed at pinning down just how domain specific so much FHIR use and knowledge was.
The question was:
How many FHIR resource types do you typically work with?
Regardless of which area of healthcare data you specialize in, chances are you will be familiar with a core set:
- Patient
- Practitioner
- Organization
- Observation
If your work involves backend processes, security, or the admin side of FHIR you might also use:
- Provenance
- AuditEvent
But beyond these, familiarity and expertise varies.
The survey showed that almost 80% of us typically work with only 6-20 different resource types. This was not a surprise to me.
If you work in the Claims space, you probably use around 10 different resource types.
Diagnostic imaging: maybe 15 if the work you do spans the entire domain.
Medications: it’s unlikely to be more than 10 or 12.
And so on…
There is not a lot of value in learning about FHIR resource types outside your area of work. Chances are you’ll never interact with them, and without an underlying expertise in the domain they encapsulate, you’re unlikely to develop a true understanding of how they should be used.
If you’re seeking to improve your FHIR knowledge, focus on areas that are common across all FHIR resource types.
- Data Types
- Terminology
- Resource References
- Search
- Profiles
[Metadata about the survey and the list of questions is here.]
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