Abstract
Three internationally recognized systems have been devised for classifying presenting problems in general practice. They are: the Royal College of General Practitioners' (1963) classification, the US Ambulatory Medical Care Classification of Symptoms (NAMCS), and the World Organization of Colleges and Academies of General Practice/Family Medicine (WONCA, 1976) classification which is known as An International Classification of Health Problems of Primary Care (ICHPPC).
These three systems were compared in over 8,000 consultations conducted by 81 randomly selected British general practitioners in Nottinghamshire.
For all ages of patient, the NAMCS, which has only 197 categories, was the most specific, and the least specific was the classification of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Full text
PDF




Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bain S. T., Spaulding W. B. The importance of coding presenting symptoms. Can Med Assoc J. 1967 Oct 14;97(16):953–959. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Clark E. M. Problem orientated records. Disease coding in a problem oriented general practice. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1974 Jul;24(144):469–475. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Colley J. R., Douglas J. W., Reid D. D. Respiratory disease in young adults: influence of early childhood lower respiratory tract illness, social class, air pollution, and smoking. Br Med J. 1973 Jul 28;3(5873):195–198. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5873.195. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Elinson J. Introduction to the theme: sociomedical health indicators. Int J Health Serv. 1976;6(3):385–391. doi: 10.2190/28BW-HJ92-XJ07-HGTR. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hulka B. S., Kupper L. L., Cassel J. C. Determinants of physician utilization: approach to a service-oriented classification of symptoms. Med Care. 1972 Jul-Aug;10(4):300–309. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197207000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hurtado A. V., Greenlick M. R. A disease classification system for analysis of medical care utilization, with a note on symptom classification. Health Serv Res. 1971 Fall;6(3):235–250. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McFarlane A. H., Norman G. R. Ambulatory medical care data: methods for classifying symptoms, complaints, and conditions. Med Care. 1973 Mar-Apr;11(2 Suppl):101–108. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McFarlane A. H., O'Connell B. P. Morbidity in family practice. Can Med Assoc J. 1969 Sep 6;101(5):259–263. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrell D. C., Gage H. G., Robinson N. A. Symptoms in general practice. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1971 Jan;21(102):32–43. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morris J. N., Kagan A., Pattison D. C., Gardner M. J. Incidence and prediction of ischaemic heart-disease in London busmen. Lancet. 1966 Sep 10;2(7463):553–559. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(66)93034-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Murnaghan J. H. Ambulatory medical care data. Report of the Conference on Ambulatory Medical Care Records: review of the conference proceedings. Med Care. 1973 Mar-Apr;11(2 Suppl):13–34. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pedoe H. T., Clayton D., Morris J. N., Brigden W., McDonald L. Coronary heart-attacks in East London. Lancet. 1975 Nov 1;2(7940):833–838. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)90233-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- REID D. D., ANDERSON D. O., FERRIS B. G., FLETCHER C. M. AN ANGLO-AMERICAN COMPARISON OF THE PREVALENCE OF BRONCHITIS. Br Med J. 1964 Dec 12;2(5423):1487–1491. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5423.1487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Weed L. L. Medical records that guide and teach. N Engl J Med. 1968 Mar 21;278(12):652–concl. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196803212781204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
