5.29 Resource Schedule - Content

5.29.1 Scope and Usage

Schedule resources provide a container for time-slots that can be booked using an appointment, It provides the window of time (period) that slots are defined for and what type of appointments can be booked.
The schedule does not provide any information about actual appointments. This seperation also greatly assists where access to the appointments would not be permitted for security or privacy reasons, and still being able to determine if an appointment might be available.

Note: A schedule is not used for the delivery of medication, that is the Timing datatype.

5.29.1.1 Context

A schedule controls the dates and times available for the performance of a service and/or the use of a resource. One schedule applies to one service or resource, since each service or resource can be reserved independently of the others.
(If two or more services, people, locations, or things cannot be reserved independently of one another, they are considered to be one activity or resource.)

A schedule consists of slots of time during which the controlled service or resource is potentially available for provision or use. Slots are categorized as open, booked, or blocked. An open slot on a schedule indicates that the service or resource is available for provision or use during that period of time. A booked slot indicates that the service or resource is not available during the time period, because an appointment has been scheduled. A blocked slot indicates that a service or resource is unavailable for reasons other than a scheduled appointment.

The real-world, non-automated analog of the schedule described above is a standard appointment book. These books are generally organized with rows of time slots, during which a service or resource is available.

A slot is one unit on a schedule. A slot represents the smallest unit of time or quantity that a service or resource may be booked. Depending on the nature of the service or resource, there may be more than one defined slot at a given instant of time. For example, if a service is an open group therapy session with twelve available seats, then there are twelve slots for the given block of time.

5.29.1.2 Actor - What the schedule applies to

The schedule belongs to a single owner, the actor. This is normally a HealthcareService, Practitioner, Location or Device. When booking an appoitment, multiple schedules may need to be checked depending on the configuration of the system.

If an appointment has 2 practitioners, a specific medical device and a room then there could be a schedule for each of these resources that may need to be consulted to ensure that no collisions occur.
If the schedule needed to be consulted, then there would be one created covering the planning horizon for the time of the appointment.

5.29.1.3 Checking availability - Searching

When checking availability for an appointment, the creator of the appointment should check that the see what schedules are applicable, then check for available slots within these schedules.

The searching could be done via the properties of the referenced actors, such as the ServiceCategory on the HealthcareService, or the Address on a Location.

The type property can be used to filter the types of appointments that can be booked within the appointment. These can be filtered down further by specifying types on the slots too.
The terminology bound to this property will be the same as that used on appointment and slot too.

If all slots are busy, the caller could find some slots that they believe are close enough, and request for the appointment in these slot(s)
(the appointment may be given a higher precedence and allocated in an overbooked status if business rules permit)

• Structure
• UML
• XML
• JSON
• All

Structure

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints
Schedule			DomainResource	A container for slot(s) of time that may be available for booking appointments
identifier	Σ	0..*	Identifier	External Ids for this item
type		0..*	CodeableConcept	The schedule type can be used for the categorization of healthcare services or other appointment types Practice Setting Code Value Set (Preferred)
actor	Σ	1..1	Reference(Patient | Practitioner | RelatedPerson | Device | HealthcareService | Location)	The resource this Schedule resource is providing availability information for. These are expected to usually be one of HealthcareService, Location, Practitioner, Device, Patient or RelatedPerson
planningHorizon	Σ	0..1	Period	The period of time that the slots that are attached to this Schedule resource cover (even if none exist). These cover the amount of time that an organization's planning horizon; the interval for which they are currently accepting appointments. This does not define a "template" for planning outside these dates
comment		0..1	string	Comments on the availability to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot(s) that may be associated
Documentation for this format

<Schedule xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> 
 <!-- from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language -->
 <!-- from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension -->
 <identifier><!-- 0..* Identifier External Ids for this item --></identifier>
 <type><!-- 0..* CodeableConcept The schedule type can be used for the categorization of healthcare services or other appointment types --></type>
 <actor><!-- 1..1 Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Device|
   HealthcareService|Location) The resource this Schedule resource is providing availability information for. These are expected to usually be one of HealthcareService, Location, Practitioner, Device, Patient or RelatedPerson --></actor>
 <planningHorizon><!-- 0..1 Period The period of time that the slots that are attached to this Schedule resource cover (even if none exist). These  cover the amount of time that an organization's planning horizon; the interval for which they are currently accepting appointments. This does not define a "template" for planning outside these dates --></planningHorizon>
 <comment value="[string]"/><!-- 0..1 Comments on the availability to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot(s) that may be associated -->
</Schedule>

{
  "resourceType" : "Schedule",
  // from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
  // from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
  "identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // External Ids for this item
  "type" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // The schedule type can be used for the categorization of healthcare services or other appointment types
  "actor" : { Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Device|
   HealthcareService|Location) }, // R!  The resource this Schedule resource is providing availability information for. These are expected to usually be one of HealthcareService, Location, Practitioner, Device, Patient or RelatedPerson
  "planningHorizon" : { Period }, // The period of time that the slots that are attached to this Schedule resource cover (even if none exist). These  cover the amount of time that an organization's planning horizon; the interval for which they are currently accepting appointments. This does not define a "template" for planning outside these dates
  "comment" : "<string>" // Comments on the availability to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot(s) that may be associated
}

Structure

Name	Flags	Card.	Type	Description & Constraints
Schedule			DomainResource	A container for slot(s) of time that may be available for booking appointments
identifier	Σ	0..*	Identifier	External Ids for this item
type		0..*	CodeableConcept	The schedule type can be used for the categorization of healthcare services or other appointment types Practice Setting Code Value Set (Preferred)
actor	Σ	1..1	Reference(Patient | Practitioner | RelatedPerson | Device | HealthcareService | Location)	The resource this Schedule resource is providing availability information for. These are expected to usually be one of HealthcareService, Location, Practitioner, Device, Patient or RelatedPerson
planningHorizon	Σ	0..1	Period	The period of time that the slots that are attached to this Schedule resource cover (even if none exist). These cover the amount of time that an organization's planning horizon; the interval for which they are currently accepting appointments. This does not define a "template" for planning outside these dates
comment		0..1	string	Comments on the availability to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot(s) that may be associated
Documentation for this format

UML Diagram

XML Template

<Schedule xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> 
 <!-- from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language -->
 <!-- from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension -->
 <identifier><!-- 0..* Identifier External Ids for this item --></identifier>
 <type><!-- 0..* CodeableConcept The schedule type can be used for the categorization of healthcare services or other appointment types --></type>
 <actor><!-- 1..1 Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Device|
   HealthcareService|Location) The resource this Schedule resource is providing availability information for. These are expected to usually be one of HealthcareService, Location, Practitioner, Device, Patient or RelatedPerson --></actor>
 <planningHorizon><!-- 0..1 Period The period of time that the slots that are attached to this Schedule resource cover (even if none exist). These  cover the amount of time that an organization's planning horizon; the interval for which they are currently accepting appointments. This does not define a "template" for planning outside these dates --></planningHorizon>
 <comment value="[string]"/><!-- 0..1 Comments on the availability to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot(s) that may be associated -->
</Schedule>

JSON Template

{
  "resourceType" : "Schedule",
  // from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
  // from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
  "identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // External Ids for this item
  "type" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // The schedule type can be used for the categorization of healthcare services or other appointment types
  "actor" : { Reference(Patient|Practitioner|RelatedPerson|Device|
   HealthcareService|Location) }, // R!  The resource this Schedule resource is providing availability information for. These are expected to usually be one of HealthcareService, Location, Practitioner, Device, Patient or RelatedPerson
  "planningHorizon" : { Period }, // The period of time that the slots that are attached to this Schedule resource cover (even if none exist). These  cover the amount of time that an organization's planning horizon; the interval for which they are currently accepting appointments. This does not define a "template" for planning outside these dates
  "comment" : "<string>" // Comments on the availability to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot(s) that may be associated
}