Stream: implementers
Topic: optional fields
Jose Montoya (Nov 30 2016 at 16:31):
Hey all. New to implementing FHIR. When I construct a resource like organization or practitioner, does it have to have all the fields listed in the documentation?
John Moehrke (Nov 30 2016 at 16:49):
Nope, only the required ones. Look at the examples in the specification
Jose Montoya (Nov 30 2016 at 16:52):
@John Moehrke that's where some of the confusion comes from for example http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/fhir/organization.html I'm thinking that what's shown in 5.3.3 Resource Content is what is required, but I have found some examples that have a lot more fields to them.
Grahame Grieve (Nov 30 2016 at 18:42):
which examples would those be?
Michelle (Moseman) Miller (Nov 30 2016 at 20:24):
In section 5.3.3. Resource Content, you can identify which elements are required based on the cardinality ("Card." column has a lower bounds of 1 ). Examples often have optional elements populated (where "Card." column has a lower bounds of 0).
Michelle (Moseman) Miller (Nov 30 2016 at 20:29):
Examples can also contain extensions...which aren't always obvious from looking at the resource elements in 5.3.3. For example, the Organization resource is a DomainResource, http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/fhir/domainresource.html, which has an extension element that is used to convey alias in the example http://www.hl7.org/implement/standards/fhir/organization-example.xml.html
Jose Montoya (Nov 30 2016 at 23:21):
Thanks @Michelle (Moseman) Miller I ended up figuring that out, but the point about DomainResource was great to know, was also kinda confused by that.
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
