Quick Guide to FHIR Resources
FHIR is a powerful standard, but the documentation can feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out. With so many pages and resources to go through, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Administration Module
The best place to begin is the Administration module. It covers the basics of healthcare data like the people, places, and events involved in care. Some key resources here are:
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Patient: the person getting treatment -
Practitioner: the doctor, nurse, or other caregiver -
Encounter: the visit or appointment -
Organization: hospitals, clinics, or insurance providers
Clinical Module
Once you’re comfortable with the basics from the Administration module, the next step is the Clinical module. This is where the real-world health information lives.
It includes things like:
Conditions: a patient’s diagnoses or health problemsProcedures: treatments or operations performedObservations: measurements such as blood pressure or lab values
In short, the Clinical module is about capturing the actual health story of a patient in FHIR.
Diagnostics Module
The Diagnostics module is all about tests, scans, and lab work.
It helps you represent results in a clear and structured way.
Some examples include:
Lab test results: like blood tests or urine testsImaging studies: such as X-rays, CT scans, or MRIsDiagnostic reports: summaries that tie together findings from labs and imaging
Medication Module
The Medication module in FHIR shows how medicines are managed.
Medication: the drug detailsMedicationRequest: a prescriptionMedicationAdministration: when a dose is givenMedicationDispense: when the pharmacy supplies it
Together, these resources capture the full journey of a medicine from order to use.
Workflow Module
The Workflow module is about how care happens.
It doesn’t just store data, but shows the steps in a patient’s journey. For example:
Appointment: when a patient meets a doctorTask: something that needs to be doneServiceRequest: asking for a test or procedureCarePlan: the plan for a patient’s care
Think of it as the to-do list of healthcare which connects people, places, and actions so care moves smoothly.
Financial Module
The Financial module is usually not the first place developers start, but it becomes important when you’re working with billing, insurance claims, or payment workflows. It covers the resources that keep track of the money side of healthcare.
Where to Look in the Documentation
So, where should you actually start reading?
Go to FHIR Documentation → Guide to Resources.
This section explains, in simple terms, how everyday clinical concepts and findings are shown as FHIR resources. It connects the theory with real examples, making the documentation much easier to follow and understand.
Wrapping Up
You don’t need to learn every single FHIR resource right away.
Start with a basic understanding of the core modules, and then dive deeper only as your use cases require.
In the upcoming lessons, we’ll explore more resources step by step following the journey of a patient and looking at the resources that get created along the way.
