ePMA Implementation Guidance for FHIR STU3

This guidance is under active development by NHS Digital and content may be added or updated on a regular basis.
Please note: This guidance has been superseded by the Implementation guide for digitial medicines, which contains up-to-date information.

Element: supportingInformation

Recommendation: optional for an MVP implemementation.

Can reference any number of FHIR resources and if implemented, some examples of use include:

  • Reference an Observation resource to share data like the patient’s height and weight.
  • Reference a Condition resource to share a patient’s condition if this influences the pharmacy dispensing process. For example; 105502003 Dependence on renal dialysis (finding) or 46177005 End stage renal disease (disorder) would justify an unusual dosage on a prescription.
  • Reference an AllergyIntolorance resource to share a patient’s allergy to make it clear why certain medication is being requested. For example, a Penicillin allergy.
  • Reference a CarePlan resource where medication dispensing is considered as part of a specific treatment regimen. For example, care plans for stroke patients.

Element: identifier

Use if a local implementation requires bespoke identifiers to track medication requests between the ePMA and pharmacy systems.

This will allow x-referencing for a med request to be unq identified within a pharmacy system, and this is the id that you use when refencing a med request within a med dispense. This is fundamental to the cross referencing.


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