Implementing Extensions in FHIR: Adding Data to the Patient Instance
Extensions — Firely .NET SDK documentation - Firely Docs
Summary
This article explains how to add 'Extensions' to resources and data types within the FHIR standard. It demonstrates the procedure for appending custom data, such as place of birth or date of birth, to a Patient instance by supplementing standard information.
Details
This document serves as a technical implementation guide for the FHIR specification. By adding extension capabilities to data types and resources, it becomes possible to append unique clinical information (e.g., specific places of birth, detailed dates) that are not fully covered by existing standard specifications. Specifically, the process involves using an `Extension` object and defining extensions identified by a unique URL. When doing so, the data type used for the value must also be specified (e.g., Address or FhirDateTime). The article provides code examples demonstrating how to add two types of extensions—'birthPlace' and 'patient-birthTime'—to a Patient instance. Notably, adding `birthTime` involves more complex implementation steps, such as needing to attach the extension specifically to a field (BirthDate), rather than just setting a simple value. Such knowledge regarding extension implementation is crucial in Japanese healthcare IT systems when handling unique clinical data specific to regions or facilities, or specialized clinical information requiring international standardization. It serves as a technical reference for deepening understanding necessary for achieving interoperability using FHIR.
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