Most of us work with only a small number of FHIR resource types. Here’s how to jump start your knowledge of each one in a few minutes.
All resource pages in the FHIR documentation are structured the same. You need to learn that structure.
Let’s use Encounter as an example.
– Resource Content
The bread and butter of what the resource contains.
Pay attention to the Cardinality and the Type columns. They define how many of an element there can be and what it is (Period, String, CodeableConcept, etc.)
http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/encounter.html#resource
– Search Parameters
At the bottom of each resource page.
Every time you build a FHIR query you’ll come here to learn which parameters you can search on and which can be included in your _includes and _revIncludes.
http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/encounter.html#search
– Boundaries and Relationships
The most underused and useful section when starting out.
It explains issues you might encounter when using the resource, common mistakes made, and relationships to other resources.
http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/encounter.html#bnr
– Terminology Bindings
This table helps you get your terminology right for a resource from Day 1.
As with so much of Terminology, this is not used as frequently and diligently as it should be.
http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/encounter.html#tx
– Extensions and Profiles
Before you create an extension, look here first to see if one already exists that meets your requirements.
http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/encounter-profiles.html
---
Sign up to “The Tuesday FHIR Sessions” and receive an email every Tuesday where I go deep on a single FHIR topic.