HealthReferenceSeverity
Reference data entity for severity levels of medical conditions, reactions, and clinical findings. Provides a standardized scale for assessing clinical urgency and risk.
Overview
HealthReferenceSeverity defines a consistent severity scale used across healthcare entities. The scale ranges from low (mild symptoms, minimal risk) to life-threatening (immediate danger). Each level includes a sort order for proper sequencing in displays and alerts. This enables consistent severity assessment for allergies, diagnoses, symptoms, and adverse reactions.
Key Concepts
Severity Scale
The standard severity levels with clinical interpretation:
| Order | Code | Label | Clinical Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | UNABLE_TO_ASSESS | Unable to assess | Cannot determine severity |
| 1 | LOW | Low | Mild symptoms, minimal risk, self-limiting |
| 2 | MODERATE | Moderate | Noticeable symptoms, requires attention |
| 3 | HIGH | High | Severe symptoms, significant risk |
| 4 | LIFE_THREATENING | Life-threatening | Critical, immediate danger to life |
Order Field
The order field enables:
- Proper sorting (most severe first or last)
- Numeric comparisons (severity >= HIGH)
- Alert escalation thresholds
- Clinical decision rules
Clinical Applications
Severity is used to assess:
| Context | Low | Moderate | High | Life-threatening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allergy | Mild rash | Significant hives | Severe swelling | Anaphylaxis |
| Pain | Mild discomfort | Interferes with activity | Incapacitating | Excruciating |
| Infection | Localized, minor | Spreading, systemic signs | Sepsis | Septic shock |
| Bleeding | Minor, controlled | Requires intervention | Significant blood loss | Hemorrhagic shock |
Alert Levels
Severity drives clinical alerting:
| Severity | Alert Type | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Informational | Document, monitor |
| Moderate | Warning | Review, consider action |
| High | Hard alert | Action required |
| Life-threatening | Critical alert | Immediate intervention |
Use Cases
Allergy Severity
When documenting allergies:
- Assess reaction severity based on manifestations
- Select appropriate severity level
- Drive alert behavior in prescribing
- Guide epinephrine prescription decisions
Triage Assessment
During emergency triage:
- Evaluate patient condition severity
- Assign severity for prioritization
- Route to appropriate care level
- Trigger rapid response if life-threatening
Clinical Decision Support
For automated alerts:
- Configure alert thresholds by severity
- Escalate high/life-threatening findings
- Suppress low-severity informational alerts
- Customize by clinical context
Risk Stratification
For population health:
- Identify high-severity conditions
- Prioritize care management
- Allocate resources by severity
- Track severity changes over time
Quality Reporting
For outcome measurement:
- Report adverse event severity
- Track severity distribution
- Benchmark against standards
- Identify severity reduction opportunities
Related Entities
| Entity | Relationship | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PatientAllergy | Referenced by | Allergy severity assessment |
| Diagnosis | Referenced by | Diagnosis severity classification |
| AdverseEvent | Referenced by | Adverse event severity rating |
Standard Values
| Code | Label | Order | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
UNABLE_TO_ASSESS | Unable to assess | 0 | Severity cannot be determined due to insufficient information |
LOW | Low | 1 | Mild symptoms with minimal risk, typically self-limiting |
MODERATE | Moderate | 2 | Noticeable symptoms requiring attention, manageable risk |
HIGH | High | 3 | Severe symptoms with significant risk, requires intervention |
LIFE_THREATENING | Life-threatening | 4 | Critical symptoms with immediate danger to life |
Properties
| Property | Type | Mode | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| code | string | stored | Unique code identifying the severity level Example: | Required |
| label | string | stored | Human-readable name of the severity level Example: | Required |
| order | number | stored | Sort order for severity levels (higher = more severe) Example: | Required |
| description | string | stored | Description of what this severity level means | Optional |
Examples
Example 1
{
"@type": "HealthReferenceSeverity",
"code": "LOW",
"label": "Low",
"order": 1,
"description": "Mild symptoms, minimal risk"
}Example 2
{
"@type": "HealthReferenceSeverity",
"code": "MODERATE",
"label": "Moderate",
"order": 2,
"description": "Noticeable symptoms, manageable risk"
}Example 3
{
"@type": "HealthReferenceSeverity",
"code": "HIGH",
"label": "High",
"order": 3,
"description": "Severe symptoms, significant risk"
}Example 4
{
"@type": "HealthReferenceSeverity",
"code": "LIFE_THREATENING",
"label": "Life-threatening",
"order": 4,
"description": "Critical symptoms, immediate danger to life"
}Example 5
{
"@type": "HealthReferenceSeverity",
"code": "UNABLE_TO_ASSESS",
"label": "Unable to assess",
"order": 0,
"description": "Severity cannot be determined"
}