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.

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".

Knowing what kind of observation is being made is essential to understanding the observation.

A unique identifier assigned to this ObservationDefinition artifact.

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 method or technique used to perform the observation.

In some cases, method can impact results.

Only used if not implicit in observation code.

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.