Frequently Asked Question

An element (sometimes also called an item) is a component which structures the Care Set.

An element can be of several types:

• A node: this is a grouping of elements which are themselves nodes or variables. Example: In the AllergyIntolerance Care Set, the "Reaction" element is not just a simple element, it is a node containing elements relating to the manifestation of the hypersensitivity (clinical manifestation, date of reaction, degree of certainty, comments, etc.).

• A variable: this is an abstraction of data. It conceptualises the set of values that the element can adopt. Example: In the Care Set AllergyIntolerance, the element "AllergyIntolerance.Code" is the variable which indicates the substance to which the patient is hypersensitive. This variable is associated with the list of SNOMED CT concepts that can be used to represent the causative agents (value set).

• A link (reference) to another CareSet: the composition of the element is described in a external documentation. Example: In a future version of the AllergyIntolerance Care Set, the AllergyIntolerance.Reaction.Manifestation element will no longer be a variable (a SNOMED CT concepts from the Manifestation limited value set) but will point to the Problem Care Set of the primary clinical record (Observation) for this manifestation, thus avoiding double encoding of the same clinical event.