Providers of healthcare, policy makers, funders and researchers need to have information about the epidemiology of their communities, and they need to understand what is happening within primary care to improve health services. More and more the influential political bodies in the world as OECD, UN, and local governments are showing interest in well-being/functioning of the population. To use only diagnoses to describe the health of the population became too limited especially in a world where people are getting older with an increase in morbidity and functioning problems with age. Too often and for too long it seems that we have overvalued highly specialized care rather than focusing more on what people want to receive in care and how their health situation is presented, i.e. what the reason for encounter is. For Primary Health Care providers to effectively record information about this as part of routine clinical practice, easy to use classification tools are necessary.
The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) is the most widely used international classification for systematically capturing and organising clinical information in primary care. It is developed and revised by the ICPC-3 Consortium and the World Organization of Family Doctors’ (WONCA) International Classification Committee (WICC).
A new version ICPC-3 has been adopted by WONCA in December 2020. The new ICPC-3 meets the need to record the reason for encounter, functioning (activities and participation) and personal preferences linked to morbidity. The ICPC-3 includes all those classes / concepts in primary care that can lead to better decisions by the providers and policy makers. It includes the new approach to health, person-centeredness, providing a medical language that is used in daily practice, instead of a medical language that has been developed for morbidity and mortality statistical purposes only.
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The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and Health Standards Organization (HSO), with the dedicated support of hundreds of stakeholders across Canada, recognized the need for a greater commitment to quality and safety improvement. We are pleased to share the Canadian Quality and Patient Safety Framework for Health Services, the first of its kind in Canada. By committing to improving quality and patient safety, we can achieve better health care for all.
Be sure to take full advantage of all the communications tools and resources in this package:
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Five Goals to Align Canada on Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
This people-centred framework defines five goal areas designed to drive improvement and to align Canadian legislation, regulations, standards, organizational policies, and public engagement on patient safety and quality improvement.
Goal 1 | People-Centred Care
People using health services are equal partners in planning, developing, and monitoring care to make sure it meets their needs and to achieve the best outcomes.
Goal 2 | Safe Care
Health services are safe and free from preventable harm.
Goal 3 | Accessible Care
People have timely and equitable access to quality health services.
Goal 4 | Appropriate Care
Care is evidence-based and people-centred.
Goal 5 | Integrated Care
Health services are continuous and well-coordinated, promoting smooth transitions.
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