diff --git a/src/clj_hl7_fhir/core.clj b/src/clj_hl7_fhir/core.clj
index 5b07130..e08ccf6 100644
--- a/src/clj_hl7_fhir/core.clj
+++ b/src/clj_hl7_fhir/core.clj
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
     (str (:namespace value) "|" (format-search-value (:value value)))
 
     (instance? Date value)
-    (->iso-date value)
+    (->iso-timestamp value)
 
     :else
     (-> value str escape-parameter)))
@@ -187,3 +187,23 @@
       (merge
         (search-params->query-map where)
         (apply hash-map params)))))
+
+;(def server-url "http://fhir.healthintersections.com.au/open")
+;(def server-url "http://spark.furore.com/fhir")
+(def server-url "http://uhnvesb01d.uhn.on.ca:25180/hapi-fhir-jpaserver/base")
+
+;(get-resource server-url :patient 1)
+
+;(get-resource server-url :patient 181)
+
+;(search server-url :patient [(lt :birthdate "1984-12-13")])
+
+;(search server-url :patient [(eq :birthdate "1985-01-01")])
+
+;(search server-url :patient [(eq :birthdate "1925-08-27T00:00:00")])
+;(search server-url :patient [(eq :birthdate (new Date 25 7 27))])
+;(search server-url :patient [(eq :birthdate (new Date 90 0 1))])
+
+;(search server-url :patient [(eq :name "king") (eq :age 1337)])
+
+;(search-params->query-kvs [(eq :name "king") (eq :age 1337)])
diff --git a/src/clj_hl7_fhir/util.clj b/src/clj_hl7_fhir/util.clj
index 256e5c0..1150ae3 100644
--- a/src/clj_hl7_fhir/util.clj
+++ b/src/clj_hl7_fhir/util.clj
@@ -7,17 +7,25 @@
             [cheshire.core :as json]))
 
 (def tz (TimeZone/getDefault))
-(def iso8601 "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZZ")
+(def iso8601-timestamp "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss")
+(def iso8601-date "yyyy-MM-dd")
 
-(defn ->iso-date
-  "returns an ISO8601 formatted date/time string for the given date. this is the format
-   which FHIR expects all date/times to be in"
-  [^Date date]
+(defn format-date [^Date date ^String format]
   (if date
-    (let [df (SimpleDateFormat. iso8601)]
+    (let [df (SimpleDateFormat. format)]
       (.setTimeZone df tz)
       (.format df date))))
 
+(defn ->iso-timestamp
+  "returns an ISO8601 formatted date/time string for the given date object"
+  [^Date date]
+  (format-date date iso8601-timestamp))
+
+(defn ->iso-date
+  "returns an ISO8601 formatted date string for the given date object"
+  [^Date date]
+  (format-date date iso8601-date))
+
 (defn map->query-string [m]
   (->> m
        (reduce