The formal description of a single piece of information that can be gathered and reported.

Often called a clinical template.

The uri that is used to identify this element when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance (should be globally unique URI, and an be urn:uuid: or urn:oid:).

Formal identifier that is used to identify this data element when it is represented in other formats, or referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance.

Typically, this is used for values that can go in a v3 II data type.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the data element when it is referenced in a Profile, Questionnaire or instance. This is an arbitrary value managed by the definition author manually.

There may be multiple resource versions of the data element that have this same identifier. The resource version id will change for technical reasons, whereas the stated version number needs to be under the author's control.

N/A.

The name of the individual or organization that published the data element.

Helps establish the "authority/credibility" of the data element. May also allow for contact.

Usually an organization, but may be an individual. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

Contacts to assist a user in finding and communicating with the publisher.

May be a web site, an email address, a telephone number (tel:), etc.

The name of an individual to contact regarding the data element.

If there is no named individual, the telecom is for the organization as a whole.

Contact details for individual (if a name was provided) or the publisher.

The status of the data element.

Allows filtering of data elements that are appropriate for use vs. not.

A flag to indicate that this search data elemnt definition is authored for testing purposes (or education/evaluation/marketing), and is not intended to be used for genuine usage.

Allows filtering of search data element definitions that are appropriate for use vs. not.

The date that the status for this business version of the data element became effective. (I.e. Date the draft was created, date element became active or date element became retired).

This refers to the "business" version - the DataElement.version which changes based on business processes. It does not refer to the date of the RESTful version which is part of the resource metadata.

The term used by humans to refer to the data element. Should ideally be unique within the context in which the data element is expected to be used.

This may be similar to the question used to prompt someone for a data element value, but the purpose is communicating about the data element, not asking the question. (Refer to the 'question' element for the latter.).

A set of terms from external terminologies that may be used to assist with indexing and searching of data element definitions.

Assist in searching for appropriate data elements.

Identifies how precise the data element is in its definition.

Allows determining whether the degree of comparability of data element instances - less granular data elements result in data that is less comparable (or at least requires more work to compare).

A code that provides the meaning for a data element according to a particular terminology.

Many data elements may have codes that define the concepts described by the data element. E.g. LOINC, SNOMED, various meta-thesauruses, etc.

The data element definition and other constraints SHALL be a proper constraint on the meaning (as defined in the code system, including relationships) of any code listed here.

Where multiple codes exist in a terminology that could correspond to the data element, the most granular code(s) should be selected, so long as they are not more restrictive than the data element itself.

The default/suggested phrasing to use when prompting a human to capture the data element in question form (e.g. In a survey).

The text to display beside the element indicating its meaning or to use to prompt for the element in a user display or form.

Question and label serve similar purposes in they both can be used to prompt for capturing a data element. Whether the question form or label form should be used will depend on the type of instrument being used to capture the information.

Provides a complete explanation of the meaning of the data element for human readability.

A copyright statement relating to the definition of the data element. Copyright statements are generally legal restrictions on the use and publishing of the details of the definition of the data element.

The copyright statement does not apply to values for the data element, only to it's definition.

Comments about the use of the element, including notes about how to use the data properly, exceptions to proper use, etc.

If it is possible to capture usage rules using invariants, that mechanism should be used in preference to this element.

Explains why this element is needed and why it's been constrained as it has.

This element does not describe the usage of the element (that's done in comments), rather it's for traceability of why the element is either needed or why the constraints exist as they do. This may be used to point to source materials or specifications that drove the structure of this data element.

Identifies additional names by which this element might also be known.

Allows for better easier recognition of the element by multiple communities, including international communities.

The FHIR data type that is the type for data that corresponds to this data element.

If absent, the structure represents a concept rather than an element.

A sample value for this element demonstrating the type of information that would typically be captured.

This will most commonly be present for data where it's not implicitly obvious from either the data type or value set what the values might be. (I.e. Example values for dates or quantities would generally be unnecessary.).

Indicates the shortest length that SHALL be supported by conformant instances without truncation.

If not specified, there is no conformance expectation for length support.

Identifies the units of measure in which the data element should be captured or expressed.

Use a value set if more than one unit of measure is possible.

Binds to a value set if this element is coded (code, Coding, CodeableConcept).

If true, then conformant systems may use additional codes or (where the data type permits) text alone to convey concepts not covered by the set of codes identified in the binding. If false, then conformant systems are constrained to the provided codes alone.

When the binding use used for elements with a type of "code" (rather than Coding or CodableConcept), the binding is treated as non-extensible regardless of the value of this property.

Indicates the degree of conformance expectations associated with this binding.

Describes the intended use of this particular set of codes.

Points to the value set that identifies the set of codes to be used.

The display can contain the value set description. The reference may be version-specific or not.

Identifies a concept from an external specification that roughly corresponds to this element.

Provides guidance to implementers familiar with or converting content from other specifications. May also help formally define the meaning of the element by mapping to a reference model.

Mappings are not necessarily specific enough for safe translation.

A URI that identifies the specification that this mapping is expressed to.

A formal identity for the specification being mapped to helps with identifying maps consistently.

If true, indicates that the official meaning of the data element is exactly equivalent to the mapped element.

Distinguishes mappings that approximate the meaning of the element from the mapping that is exactly equivalent to the data element.

A name for the specification that is being mapped to.

Comments about this mapping, including version notes, issues, scope limitations, and other important notes for usage.

Expresses what part of the target specification corresponds to this element.

For most mappings, the syntax is undefined. Syntax will be provided for mappings to the RIM. Multiple mappings may be possible and may include constraints on other resource elements that identify when a particular mapping applies.