The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
The implementation of the ICF Core Sets for Hand Conditions in clinical routine as an example of application
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (
ICF) provides a standardized language of almost 1500
ICF categories for coding information about functioning and contextual factors. Short lists (
ICF Core Sets) are helpful tools to support the implementation of the
ICF in clinical routine.
In this paper we report on the implementation of
ICF Core Sets in clinical routine using the "
ICF Core Sets for Hand Conditions” and the "Lighthouse Project Hand” as an example. Based on the
ICF categories of the "Brief
ICF Core Set for Hand Conditions”, the
ICF-based assessment tool (
ICF HandA) was developed aiming to guide the assessment and treatment of patients with injuries and diseases located at the hand. The
ICF HandA facilitates the standardized assessment of functioning - taking into consideration of a holistic view of the patients - along the continuum of care ranging from acute care to rehabilitation and return to work.
Reference points for the assessment of the
ICF HandA are determined in treatment guidelines for selected injuries and diseases of the hand along with recommendations for acute treatment and care, procedures and interventions of subsequent treatment and rehabilitation. The assessment of the
ICF HandA according to the defined reference points can be done using electronic clinical assessment tools and allows for an automatic generation of a timely medical report of a patient’s functioning. In the future, the
ICF HandA can be used to inform the coding of functioning in
ICD-11.
