The World Health Organisation International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (WHO-ICF) has evolved in the last decade to provide a standardised taxonomy and resource for health statistics. However, health professionals currently use only a fraction of the vast amount of information available in the ICF in their daily practice. Bickenbach, Cieza, Ranch and Stucki offer the ICF core sets as a practical and streamlined apparatus for focusing application of the ICF within a specific area of health. This manual aims to explain what the ICF and the ICF core sets as well as provide guidance on applying them across health care contexts.
The first chapter provides insight into the importance of function and the process of assessing and labelling within the spectrum of function and disability. The ICF provides a useful platform for providing a common set of terminology for standardised application and is thus a useful framework for developing rehabilitation models and strategies (Stuki, Cieza, & Melvin, Reference Stucki, Cieza and Melvin2007). Chapter 2 explains the structure and coding sequence of the ICF. The reader is guided through the hierarchical structure of the ICF and ICF qualifiers. Definitions and examples are given that clearly assist the reader in staying on track through the complex maze of coding.
Chapter 3 focuses on the development, availability and types of ICF core sets. This is an important chapter in the manual as it provides the reader with knowledge on the validated core sets available, what the individual core sets can offer, the importance of deciding on the application of a specific core set based on the clinical scenario, and what can or cannot be expected from these various core sets.
Chapters 4 and 5 provide the reader with skills needed in selecting and describing functional status (from an acute, post-acute and long-term care setting) via the core sets. The reader who is unfamiliar with the ICF or rehabilitation will appreciate the use of non-technical terminology in explaining key concepts and ideas. The use of documentation forms and their practical application as described over five case studies allows the reader to see the diversity in application scenarios.
The case studies are well formatted with the reader carefully guided through the case history followed by a systematic approach to the purposeful selection, description and documentation of the function deficits. The end of case discussion helps to summarise the unique aspect of each case and how the ICF core set selected has provided a clear format for describing the patient's functional limitation. For example in Case 4: Applying the ICF core set for vocational rehabilitation in long term care, the end of case discussion does a satisfactory job in explaining the differences between capacity and performance and how a gap between them can provide key information about environmental influences.
In addition, the manual comes with a CD which has PDF versions of the various ICF core sets, documents, forms and case studies. The manual is succinct and everything is covered in just over a hundred pages which is clearly a positive – especially for those of us with busy schedules. This manual is highly recommended for health care professionals who wish to have a basic guide in understanding and applying the ICF core sets in their practice. Rehabilitation counsellors will find this manual increasingly important as a desk reference and valuable guide in case management.
