Create a derived profile based on a profile in the package

For an imaginary use case you want to reuse a set of profile, however, your system mandates that some elements are always present. To make sure only the required elements are processed and to provide documantation for implementation (derived) profile can be created.

Packages make it very easy to reuse profiles. A whole versioned set of profiles for further authoring can be obtained by downloading a package. Package dependencies ensure that the used profiles do not need to be included in your own project/package.

This exercise demonstrates how to create a derived profile based on a profile in the acme.base.r4 4.0.0 package.

Prerequisites

Forge for FHIR R4 (free for non-commercial use)
- Download here - requires a free Simplifier account
Some knowledge of FHIR Conformance Resources and profiling
- Link to the free Profiling Academy

1. Install acme.base.r4 4.0.1

Open Forge for R4
Open a profile folder in Forge (use your working directory for example)

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Go to the dependencies tab
Go to Simplifier icon
Search for acme.base.r4
Install version 4.0.1 by selecting it and clicking on ‘Add’

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2. Create a derived profile

All the profiles in the installed packages are now available in Forge. This makes creating a derived profile easy.

Create a derived profile of ACMEbaseObservationLab

Select your profile folder
Go to the project tab
Navigate to the acme.base.r4 4.0.1 package
Select the ACMEbaseObservationLab profile
Right mouse click, and select New Derived Profile
Provide a name and a canonical of your liking. Click OK to create your own derived profile!
- If Forge pop-ups a FHIR version warning: select Continue with 4.0.1

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3. Add constraints

We are now entering the FHIR profiling domain. Let's add some constraints to the profile to make it suitable for our imaginary FHIR implementation. The following steps show how to profile three different types of constraints. These are adjusting the cardinality of an element, constraining the type of an element and requiring the use of codes from a bound ValueSet by adjusting the ValueSet binding strength. Happy profiling!

Make Observation.value[x] mandatory and constrain Observation.value[x] to a Quantity DataType
- Go to your derived profile and select Element Tree
- Select Observation.value[x], set the cardinality 1..1 in the Element Properties screen on the right.
- Next, only check Quantity under Types

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Change the ValueSet binding on Observation.interpretation
- Select interpretation in the Element Tree
- Change the Strenght under Valueset binding from extensible to required. This enforces the use of a code from the bound ValueSet.

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Save profile to your working directory.

You have now created your own profile!