The #open-choice item type does not behave quite as expected. My recent understanding of #open-choice items are that they result in:

Favourite ice cream flavour:
( ) Chocolate
( ) Vanilla
( ) [_________]

There is no labelling of the "other" option. Currently, to work around this, you need to:

• use a #choice item.
• include in the answerOption or answerValueSet of that item, an "other" value
• add a #string item (labelled "if other, please specify" or similar) to collect the "other" value, enabled when the previous item answer value is "other"

In order to have the "other" value show up, when using an answerValueSet, the "other" value needs to be in that value set. However, you probably don't want "other" to be a value in the response, or used in other uses of that value set. That implies you need to create a "private" ValueSet that incorporates the "public" ValueSet, and adds an "other" value; the easiest way to do this is a contained ValueSet within the questionnaire. It also requires more advanced data extraction steps to combine the results of the two items. Also, there is no guarantee that the "other" value in the answerValueSet will be the last listed item, will always be visible when a very long list of answers requires scrolling, etc.

Change requested:

• It should be possible to specify (perhaps via an extension) the prompt text for an #open-choice item's "other" value.
• Alternatively, if no change to functionality is made, description of the #open-choice type should be improved to clarify that there is no prompt for the "other value", and an example of using #choice and #string together to collect other values should be added.