Observation
This topic describes information for the Observation resource.
To interact with the REST endpoints in the Observation resource, see Observation.
Overview
The Observation resource provides measurements or simple assertions about a patient that are useful for establishing baselines or trends, monitoring a patient's progress, and establishing diagnoses. Most observations are simple name and value pair assertions, but some observations, such as blood pressure, group other observations together logically. Examples of common observations are laboratory results (blood sugar, hemoglobin), vital signs (temperature, blood pressure), personal characteristics (height, weight), and social history (tobacco and alcohol use, employment status). Pathology reports, radiology reports, and other textual reports are represented by the DiagnosticReport resource.
This resource supports the following HL7 FHIR US Core Implementation Guide STU 4.0.0 profiles:
Fields
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Extensions (for more information, see the Extensions section of this topic)
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Issued (date/time observation made available, entered, verified)
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For Observations with
valueQuantity
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For Observations with
valueCodeableConcept
Terminology Bindings
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Description: Codes for high level observation categories.
Details: Observation Category Codes
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/observation-category
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Description: Codes identifying names of simple observations.
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Details: LOINC
System:
http://loinc.org
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Details: SNOMED CT
System:
http://snomed.info/sct
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Details: For more information, see Code Set 72 Clinical Event Codes under the List of Code Sets section in Proprietary Codes and Systems.
System:
https://fhir.cerner.com/<EHR_source_id>/codeSet/72
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Observation.performer.extension
Description: Codes identifying the function of the performer.
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Details: Performer function codes
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-ParticipationType
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Details: Participation codes
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v2-0912
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Description: Codes for reasons data is absent.
Details: v4 data absentreason
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/data-absent-reason
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Observation.valueCodeableConcept
Description: Codes for value of the observation.
Details: SNOMED CT
System:
http://snomed.info/sct
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Description: Codes identifying interpretations of observations.
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Details: v3 Interpretation Codes
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-ObservationInterpretation
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Details: For more information, see Code Set 52 Interpretation Result under the List of Code Sets section in Proprietary Codes and Systems.
System:
https://fhir.cerner.com/<EHR_source_id>/codeSet/52
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Description: Codes identifying names of simple observations.
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Details: LOINC
System:
http://loinc.org
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Details: SNOMED CT
System:
http://snomed.info/sct
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Details: For more information, see Code Set 72 Clinical Event Codes under the List of Code Sets section in Proprietary Codes and Systems.
System:
https://fhir.cerner.com/<EHR_source_id>/codeSet/72
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Observation.component.interpretation
Description: Codes identifying interpretations of observations.
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Details: v3 Interpretation Codes
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/v3-ObservationInterpretation
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Details: For more information, see Code Set 52 Interpretation Result under the List of Code Sets section in Proprietary Codes and Systems.
System:
https://fhir.cerner.com/<EHR_source_id>/codeSet/52
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Observation.component.dataAbsentReason
Description: Codes for reasons data is absent.
Details: v4 data absentreason
System:
http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/data-absent-reason
Extensions
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convertedMeasurement This extension returns a converted measurement of a different measurement system than the original quantity.
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valueAttachment: URL for this extension is defined as:
https://hl7.org/fhir/5.0/StructureDefinition/extension-Observation.valueAttachment
This extension is defined and referenced from the newer version of FHIR. See Extensions for converting between versions and R5 Snapshot of Observation.value for more information.