Release 5
WorkflowThis page is part of the FHIR Specification (v5.0.0: R5 - STU). This is the current published version in it's permanent home (it will always be available at this URL). 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: 3 | Trial Use | Security Category: Business | Compartments: No defined compartments |
A slot of time on a schedule that may be available for booking appointments.
Slot resources are used to provide time-slots that can be booked using an appointment.
They do not provide any information about appointments that are available, just the time,
and optionally what the time can be used for. These are effectively spaces of free/busy time.
Slots can also be marked as busy without having appointments associated.
A slot can have more than one appointment allocated to it. A scheduling system may permit multiple allocations up to a specific number of places. An example of this type of usage could be where the slot is being used for a group service that permits 5 participants at the same time.
A slot can be marked as over-booked indicating that there are too many appointments allocated to it.
In some situations a service may have a specific set of slots reserved for specific uses, such
as "walk-ins" or a specific organization has a "standing booking" for Thursday mornings.
These should be represented using the appointmentType field with a specified and agreed value.
Security Permissions or specific business rules on the system could enforce that only eligible
appointments are allocated to them.
If a service had a weekly schedule created that permitted eight 1 hour appointments each
day of a working week (Monday - Friday), this would be constructed by a single Schedule
resource with the dates for the start and end of the week set, and then 40 (5x8) Slot
resources associated with it.
As appointments fill up the schedule, these slots would individually be marked as busy
as the appointments are filled into the slots.
The slots in a schedule do not need to be the same size, and can be different for different
days of the week.
Slot instances do not have any recurrence information included. If recurring information is desired, this will be managed outside these resources, or included as extensions.
Note that booking an appointment does not necessarily require that slot resources be identified. When attempting to book an appointment, if the requestor knows ahead of time which schedulable resources are required, then identifying individual slots from the resources' schedules prior to creating the appointment is appropriate. However, in some medical scheduling scenarios, determining which resources are required for an appointment is very complex, and options other than using schedule+slot may be a better solution.
Structure
| Name | Flags | Card. | Type | Description & Constraints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
  Slot | TU | DomainResource | A slot of time on a schedule that may be available for booking appointments Elements defined in Ancestors: id, meta, implicitRules, language, text, contained, extension, modifierExtension | |
  identifier | Σ | 0..* | Identifier | External Ids for this item |
| serviceCategory | Σ | 0..* | CodeableConcept | A broad categorization of the service that is to be performed during this appointment Binding: Service Category (Example) |
 serviceType | Σ | 0..* | CodeableReference(HealthcareService) | The type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the Schedule resource Binding: Service Type (Example) |
| specialty | Σ | 0..* | CodeableConcept | The specialty of a practitioner that would be required to perform the service requested in this appointment Binding: Practice Setting Code Value Set (Preferred) |
| appointmentType | Σ | 0..* | CodeableConcept | The style of appointment or patient that may be booked in the slot (not service type) Binding: hl7VS-appointmentReasonCodes (Preferred) |
| schedule | Σ | 1..1 | Reference(Schedule) | The schedule resource that this slot defines an interval of status information |
 status | Σ | 1..1 | code | busy | free | busy-unavailable | busy-tentative | entered-in-error Binding: Slot Status (Required) |
| start | Σ | 1..1 | instant | Date/Time that the slot is to begin |
| end | Σ | 1..1 | instant | Date/Time that the slot is to conclude |
| overbooked | 0..1 | boolean | This slot has already been overbooked, appointments are unlikely to be accepted for this time | |
 comment | 0..1 | string | Comments on the slot to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot | |
| Documentation for this format | ||||
See the Extensions for this resource
UML Diagram (Legend)
XML Template
<Slot 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> <serviceCategory><!-- 0..* CodeableConcept A broad categorization of the service that is to be performed during this appointment --></serviceCategory> <serviceType><!-- 0..* CodeableReference(HealthcareService) The type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the Schedule resource --></serviceType> <specialty><!-- 0..* CodeableConcept The specialty of a practitioner that would be required to perform the service requested in this appointment --></specialty> <appointmentType><!-- 0..* CodeableConcept The style of appointment or patient that may be booked in the slot (not service type)
JSON Template
{
"resourceType" : "Slot",
// from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
// from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
"identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // External Ids for this item
"serviceCategory" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // A broad categorization of the service that is to be performed during this appointment
"serviceType" : [{ CodeableReference(HealthcareService) }], // The type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the Schedule resource
"specialty" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // The specialty of a practitioner that would be required to perform the service requested in this appointment
"appointmentType" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // The style of appointment or patient that may be booked in the slot (not service type)
"schedule" : { Reference(Schedule) }, // R! The schedule resource that this slot defines an interval of status information
"status" : "<code>", // R! busy | free | busy-unavailable | busy-tentative | entered-in-error
"start" : "<instant>", // R! Date/Time that the slot is to begin
"end" : "<instant>", // R! Date/Time that the slot is to conclude
"overbooked" : <boolean>, // This slot has already been overbooked, appointments are unlikely to be accepted for this time
"comment" : "<string>" // Comments on the slot to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot
}
Turtle Template
@prefix fhir: <http://hl7.org/fhir/> .
Changes from both R4 and R4B
| Slot | |
| Slot.serviceType |
|
| Slot.appointmentType |
|
See the Full Difference for further information
This analysis is available for R4 as XML or JSON and for R4B as XML or JSON.
See R4 <--> R5 Conversion Maps (status = See Conversions Summary.)
Structure
| Name | Flags | Card. | Type | Description & Constraints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slot | TU | DomainResource | A slot of time on a schedule that may be available for booking appointments Elements defined in Ancestors: id, meta, implicitRules, language, text, contained, extension, modifierExtension | |
| identifier | Σ | 0..* | Identifier | External Ids for this item |
| serviceCategory | Σ | 0..* | CodeableConcept | A broad categorization of the service that is to be performed during this appointment Binding: Service Category (Example) |
| serviceType | Σ | 0..* | CodeableReference(HealthcareService) | The type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the Schedule resource Binding: Service Type (Example) |
| specialty | Σ | 0..* | CodeableConcept | The specialty of a practitioner that would be required to perform the service requested in this appointment Binding: Practice Setting Code Value Set (Preferred) |
| appointmentType | Σ | 0..* | CodeableConcept | The style of appointment or patient that may be booked in the slot (not service type) Binding: hl7VS-appointmentReasonCodes (Preferred) |
| schedule | Σ | 1..1 | Reference(Schedule) | The schedule resource that this slot defines an interval of status information |
| status | Σ | 1..1 | code | busy | free | busy-unavailable | busy-tentative | entered-in-error Binding: Slot Status (Required) |
| start | Σ | 1..1 | instant | Date/Time that the slot is to begin |
| end | Σ | 1..1 | instant | Date/Time that the slot is to conclude |
| overbooked | 0..1 | boolean | This slot has already been overbooked, appointments are unlikely to be accepted for this time | |
| comment | 0..1 | string | Comments on the slot to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot | |
| Documentation for this format | ||||
See the Extensions for this resource
XML Template
<Slot xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir">
JSON Template
{
"resourceType" : "Slot",
// from Resource: id, meta, implicitRules, and language
// from DomainResource: text, contained, extension, and modifierExtension
"identifier" : [{ Identifier }], // External Ids for this item
"serviceCategory" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // A broad categorization of the service that is to be performed during this appointment
"serviceType" : [{ CodeableReference(HealthcareService) }], // The type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the Schedule resource
"specialty" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // The specialty of a practitioner that would be required to perform the service requested in this appointment
"appointmentType" : [{ CodeableConcept }], // The style of appointment or patient that may be booked in the slot (not service type)
"schedule" : { Reference(Schedule) }, // R! The schedule resource that this slot defines an interval of status information
"status" : "<code>", // R! busy | free | busy-unavailable | busy-tentative | entered-in-error
"start" : "<instant>", // R! Date/Time that the slot is to begin
"end" : "<instant>", // R! Date/Time that the slot is to conclude
"overbooked" : <boolean>, // This slot has already been overbooked, appointments are unlikely to be accepted for this time
"comment" : "<string>" // Comments on the slot to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot
}
Turtle Template
@prefix fhir: <http://hl7.org/fhir/> .
Changes from both R4 and R4B
| Slot | |
| Slot.serviceType |
|
| Slot.appointmentType |
|
See the Full Difference for further information
This analysis is available for R4 as XML or JSON and for R4B as XML or JSON.
See R4 <--> R5 Conversion Maps (status = See Conversions Summary.)
Additional definitions: Master Definition XML + JSON, XML Schema/Schematron + JSON Schema, ShEx (for Turtle) + see the extensions, the spreadsheet version & the dependency analysis
| Path | ValueSet | Type | Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slot.serviceCategory | ServiceCategory | Example | This value set defines an example set of codes that can be used to classify groupings of service-types/specialties. |
| Slot.serviceType | ServiceType | Example | This value set defines an example set of codes of service-types. |
| Slot.specialty | PracticeSettingCodeValueSet | Preferred | This is the code representing the clinical specialty of the clinician or provider who interacted with, treated, or provided a service to/for the patient. The value set used for clinical specialty has been limited by HITSP to the value set reproduced from HITSP C80 Table 2-149 Clinical Specialty Value Set Definition. |
| Slot.appointmentType | Hl7VSAppointmentReasonCodes (a valid code from appointmentReason ) | Preferred | Value Set of codes that describe the kind of appointment or the reason why an appointment has been scheduled. |
| Slot.status | SlotStatus | Required | The free/busy status of the slot. |
There is a strong desire that implementers of this resource should consider providing the resource
in the iCalendar format as an alternative representation. Many 3rd party applications and component providers
have parsers and user interface controls to display this information.
This may lower the entry point to integrate outside the health-care specific applications, and into the
consumer space. This would permit the easier creation of a mobile application that creates appointments
in the devices native calendar.
The iCalendar specification can be found at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2445.txt .
Search parameters for this resource. See also the full list of search parameters for this resource, and check the Extensions registry for search parameters on extensions related to this resource. The common parameters also apply. See Searching for more information about searching in REST, messaging, and services.
| Name | Type | Description | Expression | In Common |
| appointment-type | token | The style of appointment or patient that may be booked in the slot (not service type) | Slot.appointmentType | |
| identifier | token | A Slot Identifier | Slot.identifier | |
| schedule | reference | The Schedule Resource that we are seeking a slot within | Slot.schedule (Schedule) | |
| service-category | token | A broad categorization of the service that is to be performed during this appointment | Slot.serviceCategory | |
| service-type | token | The type (by coding) of appointments that can be booked into the slot | Slot.serviceType.concept | |
| service-type-reference | reference | The type (by HealthcareService) of appointments that can be booked into the slot | Slot.serviceType.reference | |
| specialty | token | The specialty of a practitioner that would be required to perform the service requested in this appointment | Slot.specialty | |
| start | date | Appointment date/time. | Slot.start | |
| status | token | The free/busy status of the appointment | Slot.status |
FHIR ®© HL7.org 2011+. FHIR R5 hl7.fhir.core#5.0.0 generated on Sun, Mar 26, 2023 15:25+1100.
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