Stream: implementers
Topic: Adding preferredGiven name to Swedish extension
Marcus Petersson (Mar 08 2019 at 09:29):
Background: Swedish names often consists of multiple given names (e.g. Björn Rune) and a family name (Borg). (Middle names also exist, but are less common and can in principle be seen as part of the family name.) For a person with multiple given names, one (e.g. Björn) or two can be officially pointed out as preferred (Swe: "Tilltalsnamn"). To handle this in a Swedish extension, we are considering adding an attribute - preferredGiven - to the HumanName datatype, on the same level as e.g. the 'family' and 'given' attributes. The cardinality would be 0..2. Any thoughts on this approach?
Lloyd McKenzie (Mar 08 2019 at 15:49):
You can't actually add new elements to a resource or data type if you want to be conformant. The solution here would be to make use of an extension. Take a look at this standard extension and see if the "call me" code would be appropriate. If not, you could submit a change proposal for a new standard extension.
Marcus Petersson (Mar 11 2019 at 08:14):
Thanks! I'll check it out.
Martin Grundberg (Mar 19 2019 at 14:08):
We looked into this a bit further, and dont see that we can use the above value set and Call Me. Reasons are first of all that it is not clear how we would easily pinpoint one of the given names using a code, and also the requirement is to have an official "preferred name" which is not to be confused with a "nickname" or similar.
In Sweden the "preferred name" is set officially by the tax agency.
What we are considering is having an Extension with a string to specify a given name that is also the preferred name. We will report a CR for this as it seems likely that others will have similar requirements.
Lloyd McKenzie (Mar 19 2019 at 15:20):
To clarify, the "preferred name" would not be the same as the "official name"? I.e. it could be different than what's on your passport/birth certificate? If so, the best solution might be to propose an addition to the name use code system (and use an extension to indicate the use in the meantime). The name itself wouldn't have to be an extension, just the use that differentiated it.
Martin Grundberg (Mar 19 2019 at 15:37):
Lets take my name as an example.
Name:
-Given: Karl
-Given: Martin
-Given: Tobias
-Family: Grundberg
We need to point out that my offical preferred name is Martin. All of the given names are in my passport.
Lloyd McKenzie (Mar 19 2019 at 17:06):
That sounds like a "call me" to me. Nothing about "call me" says that it can't be part of your official name - it just allows for the possibility that it might not be.
Martin Grundberg (Mar 19 2019 at 19:16):
But how would you use that code to pinpoint one of the given names? You can’t use it on the name as a whole (all given, family).
Lloyd McKenzie (Mar 19 2019 at 19:37):
The extension would appear on the specific given name. entity-name-qualifier extends prefix, suffix, given and family, not HumanName overall.
Martin Grundberg (Apr 05 2019 at 11:50):
Now I follow, and I agree that this is a good approach and have added that to our profile. Thanks!
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
