Designation:E2182–02AnAmericanNationalStandardStandardSpecificationforClinicalXMLDTDsinHealthcare1ThisstandardisissuedunderthefixeddesignationE2182;thenumberimmediatelyfollowingthedesignationindicatestheyearoforiginaladoptionor,inthecaseofrevision,theyearoflastrevision.Anumberinparenthesesindicatestheyearoflastreapproval.Asuperscriptepsilon(e)indicatesaneditorialchangesincethelastrevisionorreapproval.1.Scope1.1Thisspecificationdefinesanelectronicrepresentationthatincludesthevaryinginformationrequiredforbroadexchangeinhealthcarebothtodayandinthefuture.eXten-sibleMarkupLanguage(XML)isaconvergenceofdataprocessing,communication,andpublishingtechnology.XMLisaplatform,vendor,andapplicationindependenttechnologyfordescribingdocumentcontentandstructureintagsorelements.ThenamesofthetagsandtherulesforusingthemarecontainedintheDocumentTypeDefinition(DTD).TheDTDdescribesthestructureofthedocumentanddefinesthenamesoftagsitcontains.AdditionallytheDTDdeclarestheorderinwhichthetagsoccurandhowoftenthetagscanappear;thatis,theDTDdefinesthehierarchyofthetags.ADTDforaprescriptionmightcontainstructuralelementsforthemedicationprescribed,thedosage,theform