Welcome to FHIR Fundamentals!

Hello and welcome to the FHIR Fundamentals course!

This course is designed for anyone who is just getting started with FHIR and wants to gain practical, hands-on knowledge of the FHIR standard.

Each lesson includes videos, supported by written articles and additional resources to help you understand the concepts more deeply.

You’ll also find exercises to practice what you’ve learned, along with detailed solutions. We encourage you to attempt the exercises on your own first but don’t worry, if you get stuck, the solutions are there to guide you.

The best part? This course is completely free. We’ve made it open and accessible so anyone curious about FHIR can start learning without barriers.

The course is divided into four modules, each building on the last. By the end of the course, you’ll have a solid understanding of the following:

• Module 1: Introduction to FHIR – In this module, we’ll start with the basics. We’ll talk about what FHIR actually is and why it was created in the first place. Then, we’ll look at FHIR resources and walk through one of the most important ones you’ll work with—the Patient resource. Along the way, we’ll also discuss the bigger picture of health interoperability so you can clearly see why FHIR is needed. And finally, to make it practical, you’ll get to create your very first Patient resource as an exercise.

• Module 2: FHIR Resources and Data Types – In this module, we’ll go a bit deeper into the world of FHIR resources. You’ll get familiar with some of the most commonly used ones, like Patient, Organization, Observation, Encounter, and Medication. We’ll also explore the different data types these resources use and see how they all fit together to make FHIR interoperable. By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of how these building blocks connect to represent real-world healthcare data.

• Module 3: RESTful FHIR – In this module, we’ll focus on the FHIR REST API, which is the main way you interact with FHIR data. You’ll learn how to work with the API step by step, and then jump into exercises where you’ll create a Patient and search for a Patient. These hands-on tasks are designed to give you real-world practice so you get comfortable working with FHIR just like you would in an actual project.

• Module 4: Advanced REST – In this final module, we’ll dive into some of the more advanced topics in FHIR. You’ll learn about bulk operations using Bundles and Transactions, how conditional creates work, and explore advanced search methods. We’ll also walk through how to set up a local FHIR server, as well as how to deploy FHIR servers on platforms like Google Cloud Platform (GCP), AWS HealthLake, and Azure’s FHIR APIs. To bring it all together, you’ll work on an exercise where you’ll set up your own FHIR server and load it with synthetic data from Synthea.

We’ve curated these four modules to give you a strong and complete understanding of FHIR. By the end of the course, you’ll not only have practical experience but also a solid foundation to dive deeper into more advanced FHIR concepts in the future.

If you’re joining this course, we’d love to get to know you! Feel free to comment below and introduce yourself. You can share who you are, what you do, and what brought you to FHIR. It’s a great way for others in the community to connect with you.

We also have an active Slack community with health data experts from around the world. It’s a space where you can ask questions, help others by sharing your knowledge, and engage with people who are also on their FHIR journey.

👉 Click here to join our Slack community

So with that, Let’s Get Started!