Release 4 5 Snapshot #1

This page is part of the FHIR Specification (v4.0.1: R4 - Mixed Normative and STU ) in it's permanent home (it will always be available at this URL). (v5.0.0-snapshot1: R5 Snapshot #1). The current version which supercedes this version is 5.0.0 . For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions . Page versions: R5 R4B R4 R3 R2

Patient Administration Work Group Maturity Level : 2   Trial Use Security Category : Patient Compartments : Patient , Practitioner , RelatedPerson

Detailed Descriptions for the elements in the Person resource.

Type
Person
Element Id Person
Definition

Demographics and administrative information about a person independent of a specific health-related context.

Cardinality 0..*
Type DomainResource
Requirements

Need to track persons potentially across multiple roles.

Summary false
Comments

The Person resource does justice to person registries that keep track of persons regardless of their role. The Person resource is also a primary resource to point to for people acting in a particular role such as SubjectofCare, Practitioner, and Agent. Very few attributes are specific to any role and so Person is kept lean. Most attributes are expected to be tied to the role the Person plays rather than the Person himself. Examples of that are Guardian (SubjectofCare), ContactParty (SubjectOfCare, Practitioner), and multipleBirthInd (SubjectofCare).

Person.identifier
Element Id Person.identifier
Definition

Identifier for a person within a particular scope.

Note This is a business identifier, not a resource identifier (see discussion )
Cardinality 0..*
Type Identifier
Requirements

People are known by a variety of ids. Some institutions maintain several, and most collect identifiers for exchange with other organizations concerning the person. Examples are national person identifier and local identifier.

Summary false
Person.active
Element Id Person.active
Definition

Whether this person's record is in active use.

Cardinality 0..1
Type boolean
Is Modifier true (Reason: This element is labelled as a modifier because it is a status element that can indicate that a record should not be treated as valid)
Requirements

Need to be able to mark a person record as not to be used because it was created in error.

Summary true
Person.name
Element Id Person.name
Definition

A name associated with the person.

Cardinality 0..*
Type HumanName
Requirements

Need to be able to track the person by multiple names. Examples are your official name and a partner name.

Summary true
Comments

Person may have multiple names with different uses or applicable periods.

Person.telecom
Element Id Person.telecom
Definition

A contact detail for the person, e.g. a telephone number or an email address.

Cardinality 0..*
Type ContactPoint
Requirements

People have (primary) ways to contact them in some way such as phone, email.

Summary true
Comments

Person may have multiple ways to be contacted with different uses or applicable periods. May need to have options for contacting the person urgently and also to help with identification.

Person.gender
Element Id Person.gender
Definition

Administrative Gender.

Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding AdministrativeGender ( Required )
Type code
Requirements

Needed for identification of the person, in combination with (at least) name and birth date. Gender of person drives many clinical processes.

Summary true
Comments

The gender might not match the biological sex as determined by genetics, or the individual's preferred identification. Note that for both humans and particularly animals, there are other legitimate possibilities than M and F, though a clear majority of systems and contexts only support M and F.

Person.birthDate
Element Id Person.birthDate
Definition

The birth date for the person.

Cardinality 0..1
Type date
Requirements

Age of person drives many clinical processes, and is often used in performing identification of the person. Times are not included so as to not confuse things with potential timezone issues.

Summary true
Comments

At least an estimated year should be provided as a guess if the real DOB is unknown.

Person.deceased[x]
Element Id Person.deceased[x]
Definition

Indicates if the individual is deceased or not.

Cardinality 0..1
Type boolean | dateTime
[x] Note See Choice of Data Types for further information about how to use [x]
Summary true
Comments

If there's no value in the instance, it means there is no statement on whether or not the individual is deceased. Most systems will interpret the absence of a value as a sign of the person being alive.

Person.address
Element Id Person.address
Definition

One or more addresses for the person.

Cardinality 0..*
Type Address
Requirements

May need to keep track of person's addresses for contacting, billing or reporting requirements and also to help with identification.

Summary false
Comments

Person may have multiple addresses with different uses or applicable periods.

Person.maritalStatus
Element Id Person.maritalStatus
Definition

This field contains a person's most recent marital (civil) status.

Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding MaritalStatus ( Extensible )
Type CodeableConcept
Summary false
Comments

Many contries maintain a register of births, deaths and marriages, and this would simplify that interaction

Person.photo
Element Id Person.photo
Definition

An image that can be displayed as a thumbnail of the person to enhance the identification of the individual.

Cardinality 0..1 0..*
Type Attachment
Summary false
Person.managingOrganization
Element Id Person.managingOrganization
Definition

The organization that is the custodian of the person record.

Cardinality 0..1
Type Reference ( Organization )
Requirements

Need to know who recognizes this person record, manages and updates it.

Summary true
Person.active Person.communication
Element Id Person.active Person.communication
Definition

Whether this person's record is in active use. A language which may be used to communicate with the person about his or her health.

Cardinality 0..1 0..*
Requirements

If a person does not speak the local language, interpreters may be required, so languages spoken and proficiency are important things to keep track of both for person and other persons of interest.

boolean Summary false
Is Modifier Comments true (Reason: This element

If no language is labelled as a modifier because it specified, this implies that the default local language is spoken. If you need to convey proficiency for multiple modes, then you need multiple Person.Communication associations. For animals, language is not a status element that relevant field, and should be absent from the instance. If the Patient does not speak the default local language, then the Interpreter Required Standard can indicate be used to explicitly declare that a record an interpreter is required.

Note that this property should not be treated used to update any linked/logically linked practitioner resources as valid) it serves as a language that can be used to communicate with patients - however it may be used to inform the value on practitioner, along with their role at the organization (with the practitioner's permission)

Person.communication.language
Requirements Element Id Person.communication.language
Definition

Need The ISO-639-1 alpha 2 code in lower case for the language, optionally followed by a hyphen and the ISO-3166-1 alpha 2 code for the region in upper case; e.g. "en" for English, or "en-US" for American English versus "en-EN" for England English.

Cardinality 1..1
Terminology Binding Common Languages ( Preferred but limited to be able All Languages )
Type CodeableConcept
Requirements

Most systems in multilingual countries will want to mark a person record convey language. Not all systems actually need the regional dialect.

Summary false
Comments

The structure aa-BB with this exact casing is one the most widely used notations for locale. However not all systems actually code this but instead have it as free text. Hence CodeableConcept instead of code as the data type.

Person.communication.preferred
Element Id Person.communication.preferred
Definition

Indicates whether or not the person prefers this language (over other languages he masters up a certain level).

Cardinality 0..1
Type boolean
Requirements

People that master multiple languages up to be used because it was created certain level may prefer one or more, i.e. feel more confident in error. communicating in a particular language making other languages sort of a fall back method.

Summary true false
Comments

This language is specifically identified for communicating healthcare information.

Person.link
Element Id Person.link
Definition

Link to a resource that concerns the same actual person.

Cardinality 0..*
Summary false
Person.link.target
Element Id Person.link.target
Definition

The resource to which this actual person is associated.

Cardinality 1..1
Type Reference ( Patient | Practitioner | RelatedPerson | Person )
Patterns Reference(Patient,Practitioner,RelatedPerson,Person): No common pattern
Summary false
Person.link.assurance
Element Id Person.link.assurance
Definition

Level of assurance that this link is associated with the target resource.

Cardinality 0..1
Terminology Binding IdentityAssuranceLevel ( Required )
Type code
Summary false