[Category: Dates, Times, & Schedules; Original Post: 06-Feb-14]Throughout the
XML hierarchy of a
CDA document, there are XML elements named
effectiveTime that are intended to represent a
time period.
One instance of the
effectiveTime element is intended to take on a timestamp value representing a moment in time (usually a date, in this case). This is directly under the
ClinicalDocument root XML element, where
effectiveTime captures the time when the CDA document was created (or the date of original document that was transformed into the CDA document). Refer to the article
Moments in time in CDA for details on the XML syntax used for time-stamps.
Just about everywhere else,
effectiveTime is intended to represent a time period. Refer to the article
Time intervals in CDA for details on the XML syntax used for that. These occurrences of
effectiveTime include:
- Under ClinicalDocument/recordTarget/patientRole/providerOrganization/asOrganizationPartOf indicating during which period the provider organization was part of the larger organizational entity
- Under ClinicalDocument/author/assignedAuthor/assignedAuthoringDevice/asMaintainedEntity indicating when the device was maintained by the maintaining person
- Under ClinicalDocument/informant/relatedEntity indicating when the related person (who is the information provider about the patient) was related to the patient
- Under ClinicalDocument/documentationOf/serviceEvent indicating the time period of the main service event of the CDA document
- Under ClinicalDocument/componentOf/encompassingEncounter indicating the time period of the primary encounter in the context of which the events described in the CDA document took place
- Under ClinicalDocument/.../entry/{clinical statement} for each clinical statement element (act, encounter, observation, organizer, or procedure) indicating when that clinical act took place
There is one special occurrences of
effectiveTime in the context of medication schedules, where the most sophisticated form of time periods supported by CDA is used. Refer to the article
Combining Time Intervals in CDA for details on the XML syntax for this special form of time period representation. This special occurrence of
effectiveTime is under
ClinicalDocument/.../entry/substanceAdministration where it indicate the medication administration schedule.
A related occurrence of
effectiveTime is under
ClinicalDocument/.../entry/supply. For an explanation of the similarities and differences in how the
effectiveTime element is used in
substanceAdministration/effectiveTime relative to
supply/effectiveTime - and for an in-depth overview of these special instances of the
effectiveTime element - refer to the article
Using "combined type" time intervals.
Other CDA PRO Know Articles Referenced In This Article
