HealthReferencePractitionerRole

Reference data entity for professional roles and position types of healthcare practitioners. Defines the job function a practitioner performs regardless of their medical specialty.

Overview

HealthReferencePractitionerRole categorizes healthcare workers by their professional function. While HealthReferencePractitionerSpecialty defines clinical expertise areas, this entity defines the type of position (physician, nurse, pharmacist, technician). A cardiologist has specialty "Cardiology" but role "Physician". This distinction enables proper credentialing, scope of practice, and workforce management.

Key Concepts

Role vs Specialty

Understanding the distinction:

A practitioner has one primary role but may have multiple specialties.

Role Categories

Roles are grouped by professional domain:

Standard Roles

Medical Roles

• PHYSICIAN - Licensed medical doctor (MD/DO)
• SURGEON - Physician specializing in surgery
• RADIOLOGIST - Physician specializing in imaging

Nursing Roles

• NURSE - Registered Nurse (RN)
• NURSE_PRACTITIONER - Advanced practice nurse (APRN)
• MIDWIFE - Certified nurse-midwife

Allied Health Roles

• PHARMACIST - Licensed pharmacist
• PHYSIOTHERAPIST - Physical therapist
• PSYCHOLOGIST - Licensed psychologist

Technical Roles

• LAB_TECHNICIAN - Medical laboratory technologist

Role Identification

Each role record contains:

• code - Unique role code (e.g., "PHYSICIAN", "NURSE")
• label - Human-readable name
• category - Professional domain
• description - Role details and scope

Use Cases

Credentialing

When verifying practitioner credentials:

1. Identify practitioner's role type
2. Verify appropriate licensure for role
3. Check role-specific certifications
4. Validate scope of practice
5. Document credential verification

Order Authorization

When validating clinical orders:

1. Check ordering provider's role
2. Verify role can place this order type
3. Apply role-based ordering rules
4. Require co-signature if needed
5. Route for appropriate approval

Scheduling

For appointment scheduling:

1. Match patient need to appropriate role
2. Filter available providers by role
3. Consider role-specific visit durations
4. Apply role-based scheduling rules

Workforce Planning

For staffing decisions:

1. Track staff counts by role category
2. Identify role coverage gaps
3. Plan recruitment by role needs
4. Monitor role ratios (nurse-to-patient)

Access Control

For system permissions:

1. Assign base permissions by role
2. Apply role-specific feature access
3. Restrict sensitive data by role
4. Audit access by role category

Related Entities

Enums

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