FIC/ICD-10

Introduction

The WHO Family of International Classification (FIC) provides a framework to code a wide range of information about health and provides a valuable tool to describe and compare the health of populations in international context.

Health conditions (disease, disorders, injuries etc.) are classified primarily in ICD-10 which provides an etiological framework. Functioning and disability associated with health conditions are classified in ICF. Both are complementary and provide a broader and more meaningful picture of the health of people or population.

The information on mortality (provided by ICD-10) and on health outcomes (provided by ICF) may be combined in summary measures of population health for monitoring the health of populations and its’ distribution, also for assessing the contributions of different causes of mortality and morbidity and can be used for decision making purposes.

Two persons with same disease can have different levels of functioning and two persons with same levels of functioning do not have the same health conditions. Hence joint use enhances data quality for medical purpose.

About the CME

Though ICD-10 was discussed earlier in the first IAPSM CME (link here), the message had to be spread within the medical fraternity at PMCH and the rest of Bihar. Adding to that, a lot of new things had come up in the FIC in recent years. Thus, a CME was conducted as part of the college's monthly CME programme by the Department of Community Medicine on the 4th of September, 2010, to dwell on the need and scope for developing a medical record department and bringing the ICD-10 coding into place in medical colleges of the state.

The event was conducted in two phases, one in the Department of Community Medicine and the other in the Platinum Jubilee RSB Auditorium. In the first, the significance of Community Medicine with respect to medical records and ICD/ICF was highlighted by faculty from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). In the second, with a huge attendance of faculty from all medical colleges of Bihar, plus the entire faculty of PMCH, presentations were made by the representative from the Directorate General of Health Services, Central Bureau of Health Intelligence and Dr Rajesh Ranjan Sinha, Dr Ranjeet Kumar Sinha, Dr Madhumita Mukherjee and Dr Gupteshwar Singh (trained in FIC/ICD-10 earlier in Mohali, Punjab). Senior doctors and experts emphasized the need to shift to modern methods of approaching the health conditions for their effective treatment and epidemiological study.