A set of rules of how FHIR is used to solve a particular problem. This resource is used to gather all the parts of an implementation guide into a logical whole and to publish a computable definition of all the parts.

An implementation guide is able to define default profiles that must apply to any use of a resource, so validation services may need to take one or more implementation guide resources when validating.

An absolute URI that is used to identify this implementation guide 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 implementation guide is (or will be) published. The URL SHOULD include the major version of the implementation guide. For more information see Technical and Business Versions.

Allows the implementation guide to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier. This is required to allow hosting Implementation Guides on multiple different servers, and to allow for the editorial process.

Can be a urn:uuid: or a urn:oid:, but real http: addresses are preferred. Multiple instances may share the same url if they have a distinct version.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the implementation guide when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or instance. This is an arbitrary value managed by the implementation guide 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 can be placed in a lexicographical sequence.

There may be different implementation guide instances that have the same identifier but different versions. The version can be appended to the url in a reference to allow a refrence to a particular business version of the implementation guide with the format [url]|[version].

A natural language name identifying the implementation guide. This name should be usable as an identifier for the module by machine processing applications such as code generation.

Support human navigation and code generation.

The name is not expected to be globally unique. The name should be a simple alpha-numeric type name to ensure that it is computable friendly.

The status of this implementation guide. Enables tracking the life-cycle of the content.

Allows filtering of implementation guides that are appropriate for use vs. not.
This is labeled as "Is Modifier" because applications should not use a retired implementation guide without due consideration.

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

Enables experimental content to be developed following the same lifecycle that would be used for a production-level implementation guide.

Allows filtering of implementation guide that are appropriate for use vs. not. This is labeled as "Is Modifier" because applications should not use an experimental implementation guide in production.

The date (and optionally time) when the implementation guide was published. The date must change if and when the business version changes and it must change if the status code changes. In addition, it should change when the substantive content of the implementation guide changes.

Note that this is not the same as the resource last-modified-date, since the resource may be a secondary representation of the implementation guide. Additional specific dates may be added as extensions or be found by consulting Provenances associated with past versions of the resource.

The name of the individual or organization that published the implementation guide.

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

Usually an organization, but may be an individual. The publisher (or steward) of the implementation guide is the organization or individual primarily responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the implementation guide. 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 implementation guide. 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 implementation guide from a consumer's perspective.

This description can be used to capture details such as why the implementation guide 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 implementation guide as conveyed in the 'text' field of the resource itself. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context (e.g. the language of the profile is presumed to be the predominant language in the place the profile was created).

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 for appropriate implementation guide instances.

Assist in searching for appropriate content.

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

A legal or geographic region in which the implementation guide is intended to be used.

It may be possible for the implementation guide to be used in jurisdictions other than those for which it was originally designed or intended.

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

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

The version of the FHIR specification on which this ImplementationGuide is based - this is the formal version of the specification, without the revision number, e.g. [publication].[major].[minor], which is 3.0.2 for this version.

An Implementation Guide should specify the target it applies to, as ImplementationGuides are rarely valid across multiple versions of FHIR.

Another implementation guide that this implementation depends on. Typically, an implementation guide uses value sets, profiles etc.defined in other implementation guides.

How the dependency is represented when the guide is published.

For information about processing included guides, see [Including Guides]{implementationguide.html#include}.

Where the dependency is located.

When a guide is published, and the type is 'include', this will be a relative reference within the guide.

A logical group of resources. Logical groups can be used when building pages.

The name for the group, as used in page.package.

Human readable text describing the package.

A resource that is part of the implementation guide. Conformance resources (value set, structure definition, capability statements etc.) are obvious candidates for inclusion, but any kind of resource can be included as an example resource.

Whether a resource is included in the guide as part of the rules defined by the guide, or just as an example of a resource that conforms to the rules and/or help implementers understand the intent of the guide.

Typically, conformance resources and knowledge resources are directly part of the implementation guide, with their normal meaning, and patient linked resources are usually examples. However this is not always true.

A human assigned name for the resource. All resources SHOULD have a name, but the name may be extracted from the resource (e.g. ValueSet.name).

A description of the reason that a resource has been included in the implementation guide.

This is mostly used with examples to explain why it is present (though they can have extensive comments in the examples).

A short code that may be used to identify the resource throughout the implementation guide.

This is used when generating schematrons from profiles, for example, but has other uses. Publishing tooling may autogenerate this value, but a human assigned value is more useful. This value must be unique within an implementation guide (across included guides as well).

Where this resource is found.

Usually this is a relative URL that locates the resource within the implementation guide. If you authoring an implementation guide, and will publish it using the FHIR publication tooling, use a URI that may point to a resource, or to one of various alternative representations (e.g. spreadsheet). The tooling will convert this when it publishes it.

Another resource that this resource is an example for. This is mostly used for resources that are included as examples of StructureDefinitions.

Examples: * StructureDefinition -> Any * ValueSet -> expansion * OperationDefinition -> Parameters * Questionnaire -> QuestionnaireResponse.

A set of profiles that all resources covered by this implementation guide must conform to.

See Default Profiles for a discussion of which resources are 'covered' by an implementation guide.

The type of resource that all instances must conform to.

The type must match that of the profile that is referred to, but is made explicit here as a denormalization so that a system processing the implementation guide resource knows which resources the profile applies to even if the profile itself is not available.

A reference to the profile that all instances must conform to.

A binary file that is included in the implementation guide when it is published.

This is principally included for the FHIR publishing tool, but may be useful when extracting and reusing content from the implementation guide.

A page / section in the implementation guide. The root page is the implementation guide home page.

Pages automatically become sections if they have sub-pages. By convention, the home page is called index.html.

The source address for the page.

The publishing tool will autogenerate source for list (source = n/a), and inject included implementations for include (source = uri of guide to include).

A short title used to represent this page in navigational structures such as table of contents, bread crumbs, etc.

The kind of page that this is. Some pages are autogenerated (list, example), and other kinds are of interest so that tools can navigate the user to the page of interest.

For constructed pages, what kind of resources to include in the list.

For constructed pages, a list of packages to include in the page (or else empty for everything).

The format of the page.

This is primarily for the publishing tool, that will convert all pages to html format. HTML pages are pre-processed, see xxxx.

Nested Pages/Sections under this page.

The implementation guide breadcrumbs are generated from this structure.