Identifier within the Bundle
Where a FHIR server is not available or not used within an implementation, the reference by identifier within the same Bundle is the next recommended implementation option.
<Bundle xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> <entry> <fullUrl value="patient-2245386903"/> <resource> <Patient> <!-- patient details for Joe Bloggs --> </Patient> </resource> </entry> <entry> <fullUrl value="medication-87652004"/> <resource> <Medication> <!-- medication details for Atenolol --> </Medication> </resource> </entry> <entry> <resource> <MedicationRequest> <subject> <reference value="patient-2245386903"/> <display value="Joe Bloggs"/> </subject> <medicationReference> <reference value="medication-87652004"/> <display value="Atenolol"/> </medicationReference> <!-- other elements of the MedicationRequest resource --> </MedicationRequest> </resource> </entry> </Bundle>
The use of a Bundle means an implementation is using a messaging approach. If a FHIR MessageHeader Resource is included then it becomes an implementation of a FHIR Message.
A typical implementations of a FHIR Messaging end-point would use the $process-message operation, e.g.
POST {base}/$process-message
The definition of each FHIR Message implemented would be defined outside the FHIR standard.
An alternative RESTful implementation would be to POST to a generic Bundle end-point.
POST {base}/Bundle
The definition of which Resources are supported by such an end-point would have to be defined outside the FHIR specification.