Supported FHIR Interactions

If you search without specifying one particular compartment or resource type, your search will potentially look at all resources in the repository.

The generic format for system-level searching is GET [base]?[parameter_list]

For example, to search for all resources updated since January 29, 2025:

GET [base]?_lastUpdated=ge2025-01-29

To search for multiple resource types at the System level, you can search a specified set of resource types by using _type; in this case, all parameters must be common to all specified types. If you do not specify a set of resource types using _type, resources of all types will be searched; in this case all parameters must be supported by all resource types.

For example, because both the MedicationRequest and MedicationDispense resources support the medication parameter, you can search for all MedicationRequest and MedicationDispense resources that have a relationship to a specific medication:

GET [base]?_type=MedicationRequest,MedicationDispense&medication=Medication/med1

You can search within a specific resource compartmentOpens in a new tab, a logical structure that identifies all resources related to a particular Patient, Encounter, RelatedPerson, Practitioner, or Device resource. Compartments can streamline searching.

The generic format for compartment-level searching is GET [base]/[compartment_type]/[compartment_ID]/[type]?[parameter_list]

To search for multiple resource types within the same compartment, you can use the wildcard character (*) in the [type] position of the query URL, and you can use the $everything operation:

• A simple example of how to use the wildcard character: GET [base]/Patient/100000001/* returns all resources in the compartment.

• You can also use the wildcard character in conjunction with any search parameters common to all the resource types the search is targeting. This is especially useful if you use the _type parameter. For example: GET [base]/Patient/100000001/*?status=final&_type=Observation,DiagnosticReport is supported because both the Observation and DiagnosticReport resource type include the status element. This query searches all Observation and DiagnosticReport resources associated with the specified patient, and returns those that are in final status.

• The wildcard syntax provides a different result than the $everything operation. GET [base]/Patient/100000001/* returns any and all resources associated with the specified Patient—including, for example, a Patient’s DiagnosticReport resources. By contrast, GET [base]/Patient/100000001/$everything returns all resources associated with the Patient resource as well as resources associated with those resources. Compared with the previous search, this search would also include Practitioner resources associated with the Patient’s DiagnosticReport resources.