This page is part of the FHIR Specification (v5.0.0: R5 - STU). This is the current published version in it's permanent home (it will always be available at this URL). For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions
This specification defines 157 Resources as the primary means for exchange for data.
In addition, this specification defines a number of patterns to assist implementers to better understand the
relationships between the resources, and also to support the use of abstractions of the resources when implementing
common tasks.
There are two different types of patterns:
Design Patterns: General patterns that resources may follow to some degree, depending on the requirements of the domain that they represent
Interface Patterns: Specific patterns that are intended to be used as operation abstractions for the resources that follow (=implement) them
Design Patterns
These patterns provide general guidelines around the design of the resources
that follow them. The resources that follow these patterns indicate how they
follow the pattern by mapping elements in the resource to the pattern. In
general, resources may:
have a matching element, or not (or define an extension for the element)
split different possible values between different elements
use different types, or codes that have different values
have different cardinalities, based on domain analysis
These patterns are intended to provide abstractions for the resources that follow them,
for use by implementers. The resources that follow these patterns indicate how they
follow the pattern by mapping elements in the resource to the pattern. These patterns are
followed more closely, and resources may:
use a different name for the element
allow for a higher cardinality that the pattern
provide a concept map to map between values in the resource and the element values e.g. mapping a set of status codes to an active : boolean
use a different type with a defined conversion to the pattern type