Resource type: practitioner

Description

A person who is directly or indirectly involved in the provisioning of healthcare.

Elements

PathShortDefinitionComments
A person with a formal responsibility in the provisioning of healthcare or related servicesA person who is directly or indirectly involved in the provisioning of healthcare.
identifierAn identifier for the person as this agentAn identifier that applies to this person in this role.
activeWhether this practitioner's record is in active useWhether this practitioner's record is in active use.If the practitioner is not in use by one organization, then it should mark the period on the PractitonerRole with an end date (even if they are active) as they may be active in another role.
nameThe name(s) associated with the practitionerThe name(s) associated with the practitioner.The selection of the use property should ensure that there is a single usual name specified, and others use the nickname (alias), old, or other values as appropriate. In general, select the value to be used in the ResourceReference.display based on this: 1. There is more than 1 name 2. Use = usual 3. Period is current to the date of the usage 4. Use = official 5. Other order as decided by internal business rules.
telecomA contact detail for the practitioner (that apply to all roles)A contact detail for the practitioner, e.g. a telephone number or an email address.Person may have multiple ways to be contacted with different uses or applicable periods. May need to have options for contacting the person urgently and to help with identification. These typically will have home numbers, or mobile numbers that are not role specific.
addressAddress(es) of the practitioner that are not role specific (typically home address)Address(es) of the practitioner that are not role specific (typically home address). Work addresses are not typically entered in this property as they are usually role dependent.The PractitionerRole does not have an address value on it, as it is expected that the location property be used for this purpose (which has an address).
gendermale | female | other | unknownAdministrative Gender - the gender that the person is considered to have for administration and record keeping purposes.
birthDateThe date on which the practitioner was bornThe date of birth for the practitioner.
photoImage of the personImage of the person.
qualificationCertification, licenses, or training pertaining to the provision of careThe official certifications, training, and licenses that authorize or otherwise pertain to the provision of care by the practitioner. For example, a medical license issued by a medical board authorizing the practitioner to practice medicine within a certian locality.
qualification.idUnique id for inter-element referencingUnique id for the element within a resource (for internal references). This may be any string value that does not contain spaces.
qualification.extensionAdditional content defined by implementationsMay be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension.There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.
qualification.modifierExtensionExtensions that cannot be ignored even if unrecognizedMay be used to represent additional information that is not part of the basic definition of the element and that modifies the understanding of the element in which it is contained and/or the understanding of the containing element's descendants. Usually modifier elements provide negation or qualification. To make the use of extensions safe and manageable, there is a strict set of governance applied to the definition and use of extensions. Though any implementer can define an extension, there is a set of requirements that SHALL be met as part of the definition of the extension. Applications processing a resource are required to check for modifier extensions. Modifier extensions SHALL NOT change the meaning of any elements on Resource or DomainResource (including cannot change the meaning of modifierExtension itself).There can be no stigma associated with the use of extensions by any application, project, or standard - regardless of the institution or jurisdiction that uses or defines the extensions. The use of extensions is what allows the FHIR specification to retain a core level of simplicity for everyone.
qualification.identifierAn identifier for this qualification for the practitionerAn identifier that applies to this person's qualification in this role.
qualification.codeCoded representation of the qualificationCoded representation of the qualification.
qualification.periodPeriod during which the qualification is validPeriod during which the qualification is valid.
qualification.issuerOrganization that regulates and issues the qualificationOrganization that regulates and issues the qualification.
communicationA language the practitioner can use in patient communicationA language the practitioner can use in patient communication.The structure aa-BB with this exact casing is one the most widely used notations for locale. However not all systems code this but instead have it as free text. Hence CodeableConcept instead of code as the data type.

Scope and Usage

Practitioner covers all individuals who are engaged in the healthcare process and healthcare-related services as part of their formal responsibilities and this Resource is used for attribution of activities and responsibilities to these individuals. Practitioners include (but are not limited to):

Boundaries and Relationships

The Resource SHALL NOT be used for persons involved without a formal responsibility like individuals taking care for friends, relatives or neighbors. These can be registered as a Patient's Contact. If performing some action or being referenced by another resource, use the RelatedPerson resource.

The primary distinction between a Practitioner and a RelatedPerson is based on whether:

A standard extension animalSpecies can be used to indicate the species of a service animal.

The PractitionerRole resource provides the details of roles that the practitioner is approved to perform for which organizations (and at which locations, and optionally what services too).

Practitioners are also often grouped into CareTeams independently of roles, where the CareTeam defines what specific role that they are fulfilling within the team, and might or might not have actual practitioner role resources created for the practitioner (and in the care team context, the organization the practitioner is representing)

Background and Context

Practitioner performs different roles within the same or even different organizations. Depending on jurisdiction and custom, it may be necessary to maintain a specific Practitioner Resource for each such role or have a single Practitioner with multiple roles. The role can be limited to a specific period, after which authorization for this role ends. Note that the represented organization need not necessarily be the (direct) employer of a Practitioner.

Notes:

Search Parameters

activeWhether the practitioner record is activePractitioner.active
communicationOne of the languages that the practitioner can communicate withPractitioner.communication
identifierA practitioner's IdentifierPractitioner.identifier
nameA server defined search that may match any of the string fields in the HumanName, including family, give, prefix, suffix, suffix, and/or textPractitioner.name

Extension Definitions

These are extension definitions for this resource defined by the spec