DSTU2

This page is part of the FHIR Specification (v1.0.2: DSTU 2). The current version which supercedes this version is 5.0.0. For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions . Page versions: R5 R4B R4 R3 R2

5.30 Resource Slot - Content

Patient Administration Work GroupMaturity Level: 1Compartments: Not linked to any defined compartments

A slot of time on a schedule that may be available for booking appointments.

5.30.1 Scope and Usage

Slot resources are used to provide time-slots that can be booked using an appointment. They do not provide any information about appointments that are available, just the time, and optionally what the time can be used for. These are effectively spaces of free/busy time.
Slots can also be marked as busy without having appointments associated.

A slot can have more than one appointment allocated to it. A scheduling system may permit multiple allocations up to a specific number of places. An example of this type of usage could be where the slot is being used for a group service that permits 5 participants at the same time.

A slot can be marked as over-booked indicating that there are too many appointments allocated to it.

In some situations a service may have a specific set of slots reserved for specific uses, such as "walk-ins" or a specific organization has a "standing booking" for Thursday mornings. These should be represented using the type field with a specified and agreed value.
Security Permissions or specific business rules on the system could enforce that only eligible appointments are allocated to them.

If a service had a weekly schedule created that permitted eight 1 hour appointments each day of a working week (Monday - Friday), this would be constructed by a single Schedule resource with the dates for the start and end of the week set, and then 40 (5x8) Slot resources associated with it.
As appointments fill up the schedule, these slots would individually be marked as busy as the appointments are filled into the slots.
The slots in a schedule do not need to be the same size, and can be different for different days of the week.
Slot instances do not have any recurrence information included. If recurring information is desired, this will be managed outside these resources, or included as extensions.

This resource is referenced by appointment

5.30.2 Resource Content

Structure

NameFlagsCard.TypeDescription & Constraintsdoco
.. Slot DomainResourceA slot of time on a schedule that may be available for booking appointments
... identifier Σ0..*IdentifierExternal Ids for this item
... type 0..1CodeableConceptThe type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the availability resource
Practice Setting Code Value Set (Preferred)
... schedule Σ1..1Reference(Schedule)The schedule resource that this slot defines an interval of status information
... freeBusyType Σ1..1codebusy | free | busy-unavailable | busy-tentative
SlotStatus (Required)
... start Σ1..1instantDate/Time that the slot is to begin
... end Σ1..1instantDate/Time that the slot is to conclude
... overbooked 0..1booleanThis slot has already been overbooked, appointments are unlikely to be accepted for this time
... comment 0..1stringComments on the slot to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot

doco Documentation for this format

Structure

NameFlagsCard.TypeDescription & Constraintsdoco
.. Slot DomainResourceA slot of time on a schedule that may be available for booking appointments
... identifier Σ0..*IdentifierExternal Ids for this item
... type 0..1CodeableConceptThe type of appointments that can be booked into this slot (ideally this would be an identifiable service - which is at a location, rather than the location itself). If provided then this overrides the value provided on the availability resource
Practice Setting Code Value Set (Preferred)
... schedule Σ1..1Reference(Schedule)The schedule resource that this slot defines an interval of status information
... freeBusyType Σ1..1codebusy | free | busy-unavailable | busy-tentative
SlotStatus (Required)
... start Σ1..1instantDate/Time that the slot is to begin
... end Σ1..1instantDate/Time that the slot is to conclude
... overbooked 0..1booleanThis slot has already been overbooked, appointments are unlikely to be accepted for this time
... comment 0..1stringComments on the slot to describe any extended information. Such as custom constraints on the slot

doco Documentation for this format

 

Alternate definitions: Schema/Schematron, Resource Profile (XML, JSON), Questionnaire

5.30.2.1 Terminology Bindings

PathDefinitionTypeReference
Slot.type Additional details about where the content was created (e.g. clinical specialty).PreferredPractice Setting Code Value Set
Slot.freeBusyType The free/busy status of a slot.RequiredSlotStatus

5.30.3 Notes:

  • Interaction with other Standards
  • The strong desire is that implementers of this resource should consider providing this resource in the iCalendar format as an alternative representation. Many 3rd party applications and component providers have parsers and user interface controls to display this information. This may lower the entry point to integrate outside the health-care specific applications, and into the consumer space. This would permit the easier creation of a mobile application that creates appointments in the devices native calendar.
    The iCalendar specification can be found at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2445.txt .

5.30.4 Search Parameters

Search parameters for this resource. The common parameters also apply. See Searching for more information about searching in REST, messaging, and services.

NameTypeDescriptionPaths
fb-typetokenThe free/busy status of the appointmentSlot.freeBusyType
identifiertokenA Slot IdentifierSlot.identifier
schedulereferenceThe Schedule Resource that we are seeking a slot withinSlot.schedule
(Schedule)
slot-typetokenThe type of appointments that can be booked into the slotSlot.type
startdateAppointment date/time.Slot.start