Healthcare Ministry introduces ICPC

Family doctors, therapists and pediatricians will use the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2) in their daily work. The relevant order has been approved by the Ministry of Healthcare. Electronic records of medical staff and the ability to encode each particular reason when patient consults doctor is a significant step towards building a patient-oriented healthcare system.

The Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine approved the Order "On Certain Issues of Using the Ukrainian-language Version of the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2-E)".

ICPC is the most commonly used classification in the primary care chain in many countries around the world.

ICPC-2 for Ukrainian doctors is a new system that allows them to concentrate on the needs of patients, instead of conforming to the convenience of processing codes for the formation of statistical data.

Nowadays significant part of their working time, primary care physicians spend on paper and statistical work, which limits their time to satisfy the needs of patients. The introduction of ICPC-2 with further simplification of accounting and statistical forms is an important component of the systemic work conducted by MOH to optimize the work of primary care physicians in order to build a truly patient-oriented healthcare system.

The following steps by the Ministry of Healthcare to implement the ICPC-2 in 2018 include the launch of an online training simulator for physicians, the distribution of educational materials and their integration into medical education at the pre- and postgraduate levels, as well as regional trainings for practitioners.

Background

The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) is the most widely used international classification for systematically capturing and ordering clinical information in primary care. It is developed and updated by the World Organization of Family Doctors’ (WONCA) International Classification Committee (WICC). The most recent version is ICPC-2 which was revised in 2015. Ease of use, continuous improvement and reflecting the content of primary care has turned ICPC-2 into an effective tool for collecting and analyzing data to ensure both the clinical management of primary care and to encounter statistical needs.