HL7 Specification: Clinical Quality Common Metadata Conceptual Model, Release 1

Metadata is used to classify an information artefact (that is, a document, message or other sort of communication) to enable that artefact to be retrieved, used or quantified. This document defines a common collection of metadata elements at a conceptual level that may be used to describe artefacts supporting clinical quality improvement. The specification further provides a high-level classification of metadata categories and assigns those metadata elements to one or more metadata categories.

Main sections:

· Introduction

· Conceptual data types

· Common metadata attributes

· Metadata classification

· Appendix A: Common metadata mapping to source material