Stream: implementers
Topic: Patient requests to provider
David Hay (Jul 06 2021 at 00:52):
What's the best resource to make a communication from a Patient to a Provider using a patient portal? The communications can either be just a bit of text ('Feeling better today doc') or a request for a repeat medication. I had thought that MedicationRequest would be best for the latter - but there are some practical issues in implementing this, so looking for a more 'generic' resource.
All these communications go into the providers inbox, so I'm wondering if a Task resource makes sense (after all, the provider is expected to do something with the communication - even if just to read it). Communication seems like a fit - but it isn't supposed to represent the actual flow - and is an 'event' rather than a 'request' in the workflow paradigm...
Lloyd McKenzie (Jul 06 2021 at 01:13):
Task is appropriate if there's a request involved (particularly if a response is desired). If it's just sharing of information - the FHIR equivalent of an email, then Communication is appropriate.
Lloyd McKenzie (Jul 06 2021 at 01:14):
(Not what it was designed for, but numerous implementations have landed on it for that purpose, so I guess there's an attraction to using FHIR for secure email - rather than actually using secure email for secure email... :smile: )
David Hay (Jul 06 2021 at 03:31):
That's interesting - I interpreted the following line in the Communication scope & boundary to mean that it wasn't supposed to be the actual 'message' itself. Given it's actual use by the community - perhaps that should be updated?
It does not represent the actual flow of communication
Lloyd McKenzie (Jul 06 2021 at 04:53):
It can represent the flow of communication if "in progress". I'm not sure we want to give a lot of encouragement in this space. We definitely don't want it to start being used as a message wrapper.
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
