MedicationKnowledge — Drug knowledge base
The pharmaceutical reference seen by pharmacists and drug databases (First Databank, Multum, Lexicomp, Vidal, BCB, Thésorimed): monograph, indicative dosing, contraindications, costs.
Purpose of the resource
MedicationKnowledge describes a medication as it exists in theory: its monograph, routes of administration, typical dosing, contraindications, price, generic equivalents and required monitoring. It is the FHIR analogue of a drug monograph card in a medication database.
It does not represent a physical drug in stock: for that, see Medication.
MedicationKnowledge serves as a canonical anchor reused by Medication, MedicationRequest and
MedicationDispense for code consistency.
Key fields
| Field | Type | Cardinality | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
identifier | Identifier[] | 0..* | Business identifiers (CIS, CIP, NDC, GTIN). |
code | CodeableConcept | 0..1 | Drug code (RxNorm, ATC, CIS, SNOMED CT). |
status | code | 0..1 | active | entered-in-error | inactive. |
author | Reference(Organization) | 0..1 | Source of knowledge (Vidal, BCB…). |
intendedJurisdiction | CodeableConcept[] | 0..* | Jurisdictions targeted. |
name | string[] | 0..* | Commercial synonyms. |
relatedMedicationKnowledge | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Links (generic, brand, therapeutic equivalent). |
associatedMedication | Reference(Medication)[] | 0..* | Medications associated to the catalogue. |
productType | CodeableConcept[] | 0..* | Product type. |
monograph | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Monograph (attached DocumentReference). |
preparationInstruction | markdown | 0..1 | Preparation instructions. |
cost | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Cost by jurisdiction / plan. |
monitoringProgram | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Surveillance programmes (REMS…). |
indicationGuideline | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Indications and indicative dosing. |
medicineClassification | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | ATC, EPC, MoA classifications. |
packaging | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Available packagings. |
regulatory | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Regulatory status by authority. |
definitional | BackboneElement | 0..1 | Definition: composition, doseForm, route. |
JSON example
{
"resourceType": "MedicationKnowledge",
"id": "example",
"code": {
"coding": [{
"system": "http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/umls/rxnorm",
"code": "476040",
"display": "Acetaminophen 500 MG Oral Tablet"
}]
},
"status": "active",
"doseForm": {
"coding": [{
"system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"code": "385055001",
"display": "Tablet"
}]
},
"intendedRoute": [{
"coding": [{
"system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"code": "26643006",
"display": "Oral route"
}]
}],
"indicationGuideline": [{
"indication": [{
"concept": {
"coding": [{
"system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"code": "25064002",
"display": "Headache"
}]
}
}]
}]
}MedicationKnowledge vs Medication
| Aspect | MedicationKnowledge | Medication |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Knowledge, monograph | Instance, batch, presentation |
| Source | Drug database (Vidal, RxNorm, FDB) | Pharmacy stock, prescription Bundle |
| Batches | No | Yes (batch) |
| Cost | Theoretical catalogue | Not in Medication |
| Referenced by | Medication, MedicationRequest | MedicationRequest, MedicationDispense, MedicationAdministration |
Common pitfalls
- Code without
system— always qualify RxNorm, ATC, CIS, CIP. - Confusion with Medication — do not store a batch here.
- Monograph as plain text — prefer a DocumentReference with controlled MIME type.
Related resources
- Medication — drug instance.
- MedicationRequest — prescription.
- MedicationDispense — dispensing.
- SubstanceDefinition — active substance.
- FHIR R5 hub.