Instruction manual
Instruction Manual of ICD-10-WHO
Volume 2: Instruction Manual describes the use of the Tabular List and the Alphabetical Index of ICD-10-WHO. It contains a general introduction to ICD, the encoding rules for mortality and morbidity, numerous encoding examples and an overview of the history of the classification.
Fundamentals: Chapters 1-3
Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction, Chapter 2 describes what the classification entails, the purpose and applicability of ICD, the concept of a "family" of disease and health-related classifications, general principles of disease classification as well as the basic structure and principles of classification in ICD. Of particular importance for an initial understanding of ICD-10 are the explanations on the basic structure (Chapter 2.4) and on the use of Volume 1 (Chapter 3), because they focus on structure and formal agreements.
Structure of the Tabular List of inclusions and four-character subcategories
Rules and guidelines for the encoding of mortality and morbidity
The extensive Chapter 4 deals with rules and guidelines for the correct encoding of information on cause of death certificates. The particular focus is on the correct selection of a single diagnosis as the cause of death, known as the underlying cause of death for the unicausal cause of death statistic.
Improving documentation and encoding through instruction and training
The Education and Implementation Committee (EIC) of the WHO-Family of International Classification Network has developed framework curricula for training on the encoding of causes of death and also morbidity encoding. As a WHO cooperation centre, BfArM is also represented on the EIC. In addition, WHO offers an interactive training tool for its ICD-10 to explain the structure of ICD-10 and the encoding process. It also includes a module that explains the correct way to complete the medical part of the cause of death certificate. The tool can be used online free of charge.
Todesursachen in der Todesbescheinigung - Eine kurze Anleitung (PDF, 536 kB)
Core Curriculum for certifiers of underlying cause of death (PDF, 40 kB)
Core Curriculum underlying cause of death coders including learning objectives (PDF, 38 kB)
Core Curriculum for morbidity coders (PDF, 42 kB)
Structure of the Classification and How to Code - Training tool of WHO
Statistical representation
Chapter 5 deals with rules for internationally comparable statistics and guidelines for the representation in national and subnational statistical tables. It also includes an explanation of the special tabulation lists as part of the Systematic Index in Volume 1 for the tabulation of mortality and morbidity.
History of the development of ICD
Chapter 6 provides an overview from the beginnings to the 10th revision. More information on the history of ICD is provided in the introduction of ICD-7.