Stream: implementers
Topic: birthDate - why only date?
John Silva (Jun 04 2018 at 21:22):
Why is it that the Patient.birthDate property is defined as a FHIR 'date' type and not a 'datetime' type? In HL7 V2.x the PID-7 (which is in the FHIR v2 mappings) is defined as a TS (timestamp, i.e. date and time). This is important in certain situations, like for babies, where the date and time of the birth is important. (I hope the answer isn't -- define an extension ;-) )
Lloyd McKenzie (Jun 04 2018 at 21:30):
The answer is "use the already-defined extension"
Lloyd McKenzie (Jun 04 2018 at 21:30):
The number of systems that need to track/care about birth time is a small percentage, so a standard extension has been defined for this purpose
Lloyd McKenzie (Jun 04 2018 at 21:30):
http://build.fhir.org/extension-patient-birthtime.html
John Silva (Jun 04 2018 at 21:36):
@Lloyd McKenzie - thanks! Yes, but what about multiples -- where the date/time of birth is used in MPI algorithms to help distinguish one person/patient from another? (and the 'baby use case') I suppose MPI is outside the space of FHIR though (unless FHIRcast has some need for this?)
Grahame Grieve (Jun 04 2018 at 21:53):
MPI is not outside the space. MPI should use the extension in that case
David Hay (Jun 05 2018 at 01:34):
see https://brianpos.com/2016/10/19/patient-birth-date-no-time/
Lloyd McKenzie (Jun 05 2018 at 01:59):
My understanding is that birthSequence is more typically used for MPI than birthTime. (Much easier to say (and remember) Baby McKenzie #1" than "Baby McKenzie 14:52:03". You can still use the extension if your system does use that purpose, but it's not common enough to justify it being core.)
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
