Patient Resource

Overview

The Patient resource is a foundational FHIR resource that contains demographic and other clinical documentation about an individual receiving healthcare services. It represents the patient as a person, not their clinical record.

Example:

{
    "resourceType": "Patient",
    "id": "CR7794222774698-5",
    "meta": {
        "versionId": "2",
        "lastUpdated": "2025-03-14T08:31:08.642+00:00",
        "source": "#95d71f0484abdb21",
        "profile": [
            "https://mis.apeiro-digital.com/fhir/StructureDefinition/patient%7C1.0.0"
        ]
    },
    "identifier": [
        {
            "use": "official",
            "system": "https://fhir.sha.go.ke/fhir/identifier/shanumber",
            "value": "CR7794222774698-5"
        }
    ],
    "name": [
        {"text": "JANE DOE", "family": "CHEROP", "given": ["JANE", "DOE"]}
    ],
    "gender": "female",
    "birthDate": "1969-03-05"
}

Critical Components

Field	Description	Standard Values/Examples
`resourceType`	Always "Patient"	"Patient"
`id`	Unique identifier for the patient	"CR7794222774698-5"
`meta`	Contains version information and metadata	Includes `versionId`, `lastUpdated`, and `profile`
`identifier`	Business identifiers for the patient	National IDs, SHA number, medical record numbers, etc.
`name`	Patient's name(s)	Includes components like `family`, `given`, and `text`
`gender`	Administrative gender	Standard Values: "male", "female", "other", "unknown"
`birthDate`	Patient's date of birth	ISO 8601 date format (YYYY-MM-DD)

Key Details

Name Structure

Can have multiple name entries (e.g., maiden name, nicknames)
text: Full text representation of the name
family: Family name (surname)
given: Given names (first, middle)
Can also include prefix, suffix, and use (not shown in example)

Common Use Cases

Primary demographic record for patient registration
Reference target for clinical resources (Condition, Encounter, etc.)
Patient search and identification
Patient portal access and management