Stream: implementers
Topic: Returning Summary Prescription/Dispensing information
Jean Duteau (Jul 15 2019 at 17:24):
This is going to be a strange request, coming from a Pharmacy co-chair, but I am doing a mapping of an existing V3 implementation to FHIR and there are a number of fields that return what I am calling "Summary Prescription Dispensing" information. They are currently returned as part of a query for a prescription and include the following information:
-estimated number of fills remaining
-remaining quantity to be dispensed
-remaining duration to be dispensed
-supply exhaustion date
-prescription exhaustion date
-last fill information (date, quantity, duration)
If I do return this information, it will be as a set of extensions on MedicationRequest. But I'm really trying to determine if returning this information fits the FHIR methodology. All of this information is just derived information. Armed with the set of dispenses recorded against a MedRequest, any client could determine this information themselves. And it does mean that the content of the resource can change without a version change which would seem to invalidate the RESTful principles. Am I right in leaning towards not sending/mapping this information?
Lloyd McKenzie (Jul 15 2019 at 20:18):
So long as any changes to those elements result in a change to the MedRequest.meta.version, you're fine. Having them change without a change to the version would be somewhat problematic, though realistically you'd ignore any updates to those fields, so the problem isn't as big as it might be. In all cases, it'd be reasonable for the server's database to update the prescription based on associated dispenses, so it's not something you'd necessarily dynamically calculate.
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
