This resource is primarily used for the identification and definition of a medication, including ingredients, for the purposes of prescribing, dispensing, and administering a medication as well as for making statements about medication use.

An absolute URI that is used to identify this Medication when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance; also called its canonical identifier. This SHOULD be globally unique and SHOULD be a literal address at which an authoritative instance of this Medication is (or will be) published. This URL can be the target of a canonical reference. It SHALL remain the same when the Medication is stored on different servers.

Allows the Medication to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier.

Can be a urn:uuid: or a urn:oid: but real http: addresses are preferred. Multiple instances may share the same URL if they have a distinct version. The determination of when to create a new version of a resource (same url, new version) vs. defining a new artifact is up to the author. Considerations for making this decision are found in Technical and Business Versions. In some cases, the resource can no longer be found at the stated url, but the url itself cannot change. Implementations can use the meta.source element to indicate where the current master source of the resource can be found.

Business identifier for this medication.

This is the business identifier of the Medication record. It is particularly important when the Medication represents a kind of medication, including when it is used as a canonical resource (with url and version), so that the medication can be identified and referenced across systems. For a Medication that represents a physical instance, the business identifier is less relevant: the serial number of the item is conveyed in Medication.instance.identifier, and the batch or lot number in Medication.instance.lotNumber.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the Medication when it is referenced in a specification.

There may be different Medications that have the same url but different versions. The version can be appended to the url in a reference to allow a reference to a particular business version of the Medication with the format [url]|[version]. The version SHOULD NOT contain a '#' - see Business Version.

Indicates the mechanism used to compare versions to determine which is more current.

If set as a string, this is a FHIRPath expression that has two additional context variables passed in - %version1 and %version2 and will return a negative number if version1 is newer, a positive number if version2 and a 0 if the version ordering can't be successfully be determined.

A natural language name identifying the Medication. This name should be usable as an identifier for the resource by machine processing applications such as code generation.

Supports code generation.

The name is not expected to be globally unique. The name should be a simple alphanumeric type no-whitespace name to ensure that it is machine-processing friendly.

A short, descriptive, user-friendly title for the Medication.

This name does not need to be machine-processing friendly and may contain punctuation, white-space, etc.

A code (or set of codes) that specify this medication, or a textual description. Usage note: This could be a standard medication code such as a code from RxNorm, SNOMED CT, IDMP etc. It could also be a national or local formulary code, optionally with translations to other code systems. The name of the medication can be conveyed in the code.text even if it is different from any of the coding displayName values.

Depending on the context of use, the code that was actually selected by the user (prescriber, dispenser, etc.) will have the coding.userSelected set to true. As described in the coding datatype: "A coding may be marked as a "userSelected" if a user selected the particular coded value in a user interface (e.g. the user selects an item in a pick-list). If a user selected coding exists, it is the preferred choice for performing translations etc. Other codes can only be literal translations to alternative code systems, or codes at a lower level of granularity (e.g. a generic code for a vendor-specific primary one).

The status of this Medication: whether the medication record is in use.

This status identifies whether the medication record, in a local system, catalogue or published definition, is in use. For example, a pharmacy system may create a record for a compounded product "ABC Hospital Special Cream" with status active; when the product is no longer to be used, or the record was created in error, its status is retired. This status is not intended to specify whether a medication is part of a particular formulary; the medication may be referenced by several formularies or catalogues, each with their own status.

A Boolean value to indicate that this Medication is authored for testing purposes (or education/evaluation/marketing) and no version of this resource will ever be intended for genuine usage.

Enables experimental content to be developed following the same lifecycle that would be used for a production-level Medication.

Allows filtering of Medications that are appropriate for use versus not. Experimental resources might include example instances in implementation guides, instances created solely for testing purposes, etc. If experimental is 'true' for any version of a resource, it should be true for all versions of the resource. (If experimental changes, then it is being misused or a resource that was never intended for real-world use has unexpectedly changed its purpose.). Experimental resources are not expected to be stable and may well have breaking changes without a corresponding change to the 'version' element.

The date (and optionally time) when the Medication was last significantly changed. The date must change when the business version changes and it must change if the status code changes. In addition, it should change when the substantive content of the Medication changes.

The date is often not tracked until the resource is published, but may be present on draft content. Note that this is not the same as the resource last-modified-date, since the resource may be a secondary representation of the Medication. Additional specific dates may be added as extensions or be found by consulting Provenances associated with past versions of the resource. See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The name of the organization or individual responsible for the release and ongoing maintenance of the Medication.

Helps establish the "authority/credibility" of the Medication. May also allow for contact.

Usually an organization but may be an individual. The publisher (or steward) of the Medication is the organization or individual primarily responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the Medication. This is not necessarily the same individual or organization that developed and initially authored the content. The publisher is the primary point of contact for questions or issues with the Medication. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

Contact details to assist a user in finding and communicating with the publisher.

May be a web site, an email address, a telephone number, etc. See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

A free text natural language description of the Medication from a consumer's perspective.

This description can be used to capture details such as comments about misuse, instructions for clinical use and interpretation, literature references, examples from the paper world, etc. It is not a rendering of the Medication as conveyed in the 'text' field of the resource itself. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

The content was developed with a focus and intent of supporting the contexts that are listed. These contexts may be general categories (gender, age, ...) or may be references to specific programs (insurance plans, studies, ...) and may be used to assist with indexing and searching for appropriate Medications.

Assist in searching for appropriate content.

When multiple useContexts are specified, there is no expectation that all or even any of the contexts apply.

A legal or geographic region in which the authority that maintains the resource is operating. In general, the jurisdiction is also found in the useContext. The useContext may reference additional jurisdictions because the defining jurisdiction does not necessarily limit the jurisdictions of use.

It may be possible for the Medication to be used in jurisdictions other than those for which it was originally designed or intended. DEPRECATION NOTE: For consistency, implementations are encouraged to migrate to using the new 'jurisdiction' code in the useContext element. (I.e. useContext.code indicating http://terminology.hl7.org/CodeSystem/usage-context-type#jurisdiction and useContext.valueCodeableConcept indicating the jurisdiction.)

Explanation of why this Medication is needed and why it has been designed as it has.

This element does not describe the usage of the Medication. Instead, it provides traceability of "why" the resource is either needed or "why" it is defined as it is. This may be used to point to source materials or specifications that drove the structure of this Medication.

A copyright statement relating to the Medication and/or its contents. Copyright statements are notices of intellectual property ownership and can include restrictions on the use and publishing of the Medication.

Consumers must be able to determine any legal restrictions on the use of the Medication and/or its content.

The short copyright declaration (e.g. (c) '2015+ xyz organization') should be sent in the copyrightLabel element without the copyright prefix (i.e., do not include '(c)' or the symbol).

A short string (<50 characters), suitable for inclusion in a page footer that identifies the copyright holder, effective period, and optionally whether rights are restricted. (e.g. 'All rights reserved', 'Some rights reserved').

Defines the content expected to be rendered in all representations of the artifact.

The copyright symbol and the '(c)' textual representation SHOULD NOT be included in this string. It will be added by software when rendering the notation. Full details about licensing, restrictions, warrantees, etc. goes in the more general 'copyright' element.

The company or other legal entity that has authorization, from the appropriate drug regulatory authority, to market a medicine in one or more jurisdictions. Typically abbreviated MAH.Note: The MAH may manufacture the product and may also contract the manufacturing of the product to one or more companies (organizations).

Describes the form of the item. Powder; tablets; capsule.

When Medication is referenced from MedicationRequest, this is the ordered form. When Medication is referenced within MedicationDispense, this is the dispensed form. When Medication is referenced within MedicationAdministration, this is administered form.

When the code does not specify the package size, this backbone element can be used to specify the overall amount of medication in the package.

To represent a medication that has 5 vials with 10ml in each vial and the medication code just represents a vial, then the number of Items would be '5 vial' and the amountPerItem would be '10ml/vial'. To represent a medication where there are 300 tablets and the code is for 100mg tablets, the number of items would be '300 tablets'

The number of items in the package that are represented by the code, e.g. 5 vials or 100 tablets.

The amount per each item, e.g. 10 ml / vial.

Identifies a particular constituent of interest in the product.

The ingredients need not be a complete list. If an ingredient is not specified, this does not indicate whether an ingredient is present or absent. If an ingredient is specified it does not mean that all ingredients are specified. It is possible to specify both inactive and active ingredients. If Medication.code represents a fully specified product (the product + the strength + the dosage form) then including ingredients is duplicative. However, there may be implementation considerations which dictate including ingredients when Medication.code is a fully specified product. For compounded products, active and inactive ingredients should be included. However, even with all ingredients specified, a Medication resource should not be considered a "recipe" as the sequence and techniques for preparing the final product cannot be included.

The ingredient (substance or medication) that the ingredient.strength relates to. This is represented as a concept from a code system or described in another resource (Substance or Medication).

The ingredient may reference a medication substance (for example, amoxicillin) or another medication (for example in the case of a compounded product, Glaxal Base). A referenced medication may be fully specified (amoxicillin 250 mg capsule), partially specified (amoxicillin 250mg), or may refer to an abstract ingredient (e.g., amoxicillin).

Indication of whether this ingredient affects the therapeutic action of the drug.

True indicates that the ingredient affects the therapeutic action of the drug (i.e. active). False indicates that the ingredient does not affect the therapeutic action of the drug (i.e. inactive).

The (typically coded) functional role of the ingredient - for example active, excipient, adjuvant, solvent etc.

This can be used in combination with the isActive element to provide further information about the type of ingredient.

Specifies how many (or how much) of the items there are in this Medication. For example, 250 mg per tablet. This is expressed as a ratio where the numerator is 250mg and the denominator is 1 tablet but can also be expressed a quantity when the denominator is assumed to be 1 tablet.

Medication.ingredient.strength.denominator can cause some confusion. For example, the concentration of a pediatric acetaminophen suspension can be '32 mg / 1 ml' or '160 mg / 5 ml'. Both strengths are the same (32 mg * 5 = 160 mg). In clinical systems (drug databases) strengths are usually to unit volumes (32 mg / 1 ml). While on a consumer product it's preferred to say how much per 'typical' dose (160 mg / 5 ml, with 5 ml (1 tsp) being the typical dose). Both representations are valid. Best practice is to select the denominator most relevant to the situation and use that same denominator for all ingredients. Ingredient.strength is problematic for multi-ingredient ingredients. For example, antacid products often contain multiple ingredients, such as 'aluminum & magnesium hydroxide with simethicone 400-400-40 mg/5ml'. Expressing a 'final concentration' in these cases is intractable and the best option is to not include ingredient.strength.

Information that only applies to packages (not products).

Identifier for the physical instance, typically a serial number.

The unique identifier of the physical item, typically a serial number, following the Product pattern. This may differ from the business identifier of the Medication record (Medication.identifier). It is not used for batch or lot numbers, which are conveyed in Medication.instance.lotNumber.

The assigned lot number of a batch of the specified product.

When this specific instance of product will expire.

A reference to a definitional resource that provides more information about this medication.