Set of definitional characteristics for a kind of observation or measurement produced or consumed by an orderable health care service.

In a catalog of health-related services that use or produce observations and measurements, this resource describes the expected characteristics of these observation / measurements.

An instance of this resource informs the consumer of a health-related service (such as a lab diagnostic test or panel) about how the observations used or produced by this service will look like.

An absolute URL that is used to identify this ObservationDefinition when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance. This SHALL be a URL, SHOULD be globally unique, and SHOULD be an address at which this ObservationDefinition is (or will be) published. The URL SHOULD include the major version of the ObservationDefinition. For more information see Technical and Business Versions.

Allows the ObservationDefinition to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier.

Can be a urn:uuid: or a urn:oid:, but real http: addresses are preferred. This is the URI that will be used when making canonical references to this resource.

Business identifiers assigned to this ObservationDefinition. by the performer and/or other systems. These identifiers remain constant as the resource is updated and propagates from server to server.

Allows identification of the ObservationDefinition as it is known by various participating systems and in a way that remains consistent across servers.

This is a business identifier, not a resource identifier. It is best practice for the identifier to only appear on a single resource instance, however business practices may occasionally dictate that multiple resource instances with the same identifier can exist - possibly even with different resource types.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the ObservationDefinition when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or instance. This is an arbitrary value managed by the ObservationDefinition author and is not expected to be globally unique. For example, it might be a timestamp (e.g. yyyymmdd) if a managed version is not available. There is also no expectation that versions are orderable.

There may be multiple different instances of a ObservationDefinition that have the same identifier but different versions.

A short, descriptive, user-friendly title for the ObservationDefinition.

The canonical URL pointing to another FHIR-defined ObservationDefinition that is adhered to in whole or in part by this definition.

The URL pointing to an externally-defined observation definition, guideline or other definition that is adhered to in whole or in part by this definition.

Observation definitions may be refinements of other definitions.

The current state of the ObservationDefinition.

A nominal state-transition diagram can be found in the [[definition.html#statemachine | Definition pattern]] documentation Unknown does not represent "other" - one of the defined statuses must apply. Unknown is used when the authoring system is not sure what the current status is.

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

Allows filtering of ObservationDefinition that are appropriate for use vs. not.

A code or group definition that describes the intended subject of Observation instances conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

Examples: person, animal, device, air, surface ….

For draft definitions, indicates the date of initial creation. For active definitions, represents the date of activation. For withdrawn definitions, indicates the date of withdrawal.

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

Usually an organization, but may be an individual. The publisher (or steward) of the ObservationDefinition is the organization or individual primarily responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the ObservationDefinition. This is not necessarily the same individual or organization that developed and initially authored the content. The publisher is the primary point of contact for questions or issues with the ObservationDefinition. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

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

May be a web site, an email address, a telephone number, etc.

A free text natural language description of the ObservationDefinition from the consumer's perspective.

This description can be used to capture details such as why the ObservationDefinition was built, comments about misuse, instructions for clinical use and interpretation, literature references, examples from the paper world, etc. It is not a rendering of the module as conveyed in the text field of the resource itself. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

The content was developed with a focus and intent of supporting the contexts that are listed. These terms may be used to assist with indexing and searching of observation definitions.

Assist in searching for appropriate content.

When multiple usageContexts are specified, there is no expectation for whether all or any of the contexts apply.

A jurisdiction in which the ObservationDefinition is intended to be used.

Explains why this ObservationDefinition is needed and why it has been designed as it has.

This element does not describe the usage of the ObservationDefinition. Rather it is for traceability of ''why'' the resource is either needed or ''why'' it is defined as it is. This may be used to point to source materials or specifications that drove the structure of this ObservationDefinition.

Copyright statement relating to the ObservationDefinition and/or its contents. Copyright statements are generally legal restrictions on the use and publishing of the ObservationDefinition.

Consumers of the ObservationDefinition must be able to determine any legal restrictions on the use of the artifact and/or its content.

The date on which the asset content was approved by the publisher. Approval happens once when the content is officially approved for usage.

The date may be more recent than the approval date because of minor changes / editorial corrections.

The date on which the asset content was last reviewed. Review happens periodically after that, but doesn't change the original approval date.

If specified, this is usually after the approval date.

The period during which the ObservationDefinition content was or is planned to be effective.

The effective period for an ObservationDefinition determines when the content is applicable for usage and is independent of publication and review dates. For example, an observation intended to be used for the year 2020 would be published in 2019.

The type of individual/organization/device that is expected to act upon instances of this definition.

A code that classifies the general type of observation.

Used for filtering what kinds of observations are retrieved and displayed.

This element allows various categorization schemes based on the owner’s definition of the category and effectively multiple categories can be used for one instance of ObservationDefinition. The level of granularity is defined by the category concepts in the value set.

Describes what will be observed. Sometimes this is called the observation "name".

The data types allowed for the value element of the instance observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

Multiple results allowed for observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

An example of observation allowing multiple results is "bacteria identified by culture". Conversely, the measurement of a potassium level allows a single result.

The site on the subject's body where the observation is to be made.

Only used if the defined observation is to be made directly on a body part and if this body part is not implied by code found in ObservationDefinition.code. Not used for in vitro diagnostic observations. Example: 14975008 |Forearm structure|.

The method or technique used to perform the observation.

In some cases, method can impact results.

Only used if not implicit in observation code Example: 702659008 |Automated count technique|.

The kind of specimen that this type of observation is produced on.

Only used for in vitro observations.

The measurement device used to produce observations of this type.

The preferred name to be used when reporting the results of observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

Characteristics for quantitative results of this observation.

Customary unit used to report quantitative results of observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

SI unit used to report quantitative results of observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

Factor for converting value expressed with SI unit to value expressed with customary unit.

Number of digits after decimal separator when the results of such observations are of type Quantity.

Multiple ranges of results qualified by different contexts for ordinal or continuous observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

The category of interval of values for continuous or ordinal observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

The low and high values determining the interval. There may be only one of the two.

The unit may be not relevant for ordinal values. In case it is there, it is the same as quantitativeDetails.unit.

Codes to indicate the health context the range applies to. For example, the normal or therapeutic range.

Codes to indicate the target population this reference range applies to.

If this element is not present then the global population is assumed.

Sex of the population the range applies to.

The age at which this reference range is applicable. This is a neonatal age (e.g. number of weeks at term) if the meaning says so.

Some analytes vary greatly over age.

The gestational age to which this reference range is applicable, in the context of pregnancy.

Text based condition for which the reference range is valid.

The set of valid coded results for the observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

The set of normal coded results for the observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

The set of abnormal coded results for the observation conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

The set of critical coded results for the observation conforming to this ObservationDefinition.

This ObservationDefinition defines a group observation (e.g. a battery, a panel of tests, a set of vital sign measurements) that includes the target as a member of the group.

Some observations have multiple component observations, expressed as separate code value pairs.

Component observations share the same attributes as the primary observation and are always treated as a part of it (they are not separable).

Describes what will be observed.

The data types allowed for the value element of the instance of this component observations.

Characteristics for quantitative results of this observation.

Multiple ranges of results qualified by different contexts for ordinal or continuous observations conforming to this ObservationDefinition.