Stream: IG creation
Topic: Dental Findings
Zabrina Gonzaga (Nov 09 2020 at 21:57):
Reaching out to the dental community to gather feedback two possible designs to represent dental findings in FHIR:
1) create an extension for "dental concerns" to US Core Condition (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/us/core/StructureDefinition-us-core-condition.html) or
2) Like the problem list item category, add a category to represent dental problems which could be included as a 2nd category since multiples are allowed, but the primary category should be one of the 3 allowed in US Core. (https://www.hl7.org/fhir/us/core/ValueSet-us-core-condition-category.html)
Please let us know in this thread which design #1 or #2 you prefer.
Lloyd McKenzie (Nov 09 2020 at 23:54):
I'm not a dentist, but as a general rule, if the objective is to be able to filter to only include dental concerns, you'll find broader support using 'category' than you will an extension. Most 'generic' systems will be able to search by Condition.category and know how to store it, while you'll have to build custom support to both store and search on an extension. Best practice is to always use core elements rather than extensions if they're fit for purpose and have the right semantics - and it seems that 'category' here fits the bill.
Zabrina Gonzaga (Nov 11 2020 at 18:56):
Lloyd McKenzie said:
I'm not a dentist, but as a general rule, if the objective is to be able to filter to only include dental concerns, you'll find broader support using 'category' than you will an extension. Most 'generic' systems will be able to search by Condition.category and know how to store it, while you'll have to build custom support to both store and search on an extension. Best practice is to always use core elements rather than extensions if they're fit for purpose and have the right semantics - and it seems that 'category' here fits the bill.
Thanks Lloyd for this feedback. It's helpful to know which option may have wider support.
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
