observation

Measurements and simple assertions made about a patient, device or other subject. See the HL7 FHIR R4 spec for full details.

Previous version: observation

Tables in this resource:

• observation – Main observation record (this page)
• observation_category – Backbone for category
• observation_category_coding
• observation_code_coding
• observation_interpretation – Interpretation per observation (text)
• observation_interpretation_coding
• observation_bodysite_coding
• observation_referencerange – Reference ranges per observation
• observation_vcc_coding – valueCodeableConcept.coding[] entries
• observation_extension
• observation_extension_vcc_coding
• observation_references – Normalized references; see Reference Tables

Reference Table:

The observation_references table contains normalized references from the observation to other entities. It supports the following reference properties:

• subject (required): links to the patient who is the subject of the observation
• encounter: links to the encounter where the observation was made
• performer: links to practitioners who performed the observation

For detailed information about reference table structure and indexing, see the Reference Tables documentation.

Primary Keys:

• observation_id

Foreign Keys:

• patient_id - links to the patient table (subject)

_{† Metriport Platform added}

Column	Data Type	Description
observation_id	varchar	Unique identifier for the observation
patient_id	varchar	Unique identifier for the patient (subject)
status	varchar	Status of the observation (e.g. final, preliminary)
effectivedatetime	datetime	Effective date/time if provided directly
effectiveperiod_start	datetime	Start of effective period
effective_date†	datetime	Coalesced effective date (effectivedatetime or effectiveperiod_start)
effectiveperiod_end	datetime	End of effective period
code_text	varchar	Free-text description of the observation type
code_loinc_code†	varchar	LOINC code for the observation
code_loinc_display†	varchar	Human-readable LOINC description
valuequantity_value	varchar	Quantity value when observation value is a Quantity
valuequantity_comparator	varchar	Comparator for quantity value (e.g. <, <=, >=, >)
valuestring	varchar	String value when observation value is a string
valuecodeableconcept_text	varchar	Text when observation value is a CodeableConcept
value†	varchar	Coalesced value (quantity, string, or codeable concept text)
valuerange_high_value	varchar	High value when the observation value is a Range
valuerange_high_unit	varchar	Unit for high range value
valuerange_low_value	varchar	Low value when the observation value is a Range
valuerange_low_unit	varchar	Unit for low range value
valuequantity_unit	varchar	Unit when observation value is a Quantity
units†	varchar	Coalesced unit of measurement
referencerange_low_value†	varchar	Lower bound of the reference range (first range)
referencerange_high_value†	varchar	Upper bound of the reference range (first range)
interpretation_hl7_code†	varchar	HL7 interpretation code (ObservationInterpretation)
interpretation_hl7_display†	varchar	Human-readable description of HL7 interpretation
category_hl7_code†	varchar	HL7 category code (observation-category, preferred binding)
category_hl7_display†	varchar	Human-readable description of HL7 category
bodysite_text	varchar	Free-text body site
note_text†	varchar	Additional notes about the observation (first note)
meta_source	varchar	Source document filename from FHIR meta.source
data_source_ext†	varchar	Integration source of the data, derived from FHIR extension

Related Tables:

Parent:

• patient

Child:

• observation_bodysite_coding
• observation_category
• observation_code_coding
• observation_extension
• observation_interpretation
• observation_interpretation_coding
• observation_referencerange

Version diff

Renamed

• end_date → effectiveperiod_end
• reference_range_low → referencerange_low_value
• reference_range_high → referencerange_high_value
• loinc_code → code_loinc_code
• loinc_display → code_loinc_display
• data_source → meta_source

Moved to separate tables

• bodysite_snomed_ct_code → observation_bodysite_coding.code w/ system = 'http://snomed.info/sct'
• bodysite_snomed_ct_display → observation_bodysite_coding.display w/ system = 'http://snomed.info/sct'
• source_code_code → observation_code_coding.code w/ code_rank = 1
• source_code_display → observation_code_coding.display w/ code_rank = 1
• source_code_system → observation_code_coding.system w/ code_rank = 1