Morbidity recording in primary medical care and its use for community diagnosis

Primary medical care now plays an important role in integrated community health services. For the planning and evaluation of such services, health administrators require information on morbidity in the community. While useful data on morbidity are generated in the primary care services themselves, these data are not yet utilized to their fullest. Common difficulties encountered in recording and analyzing data in primary care are briefly reviewed. The methods and results of a pilot study in 13 Kupat Holim clinics in Israel are presented. The study used a classification of diseases and symptoms specially designed for the needs of primary care but based on and cross-indexed with the International Classification of Diseases. The data produced gave a meaningful picture of the patterns of disease encountered in primary care and revealed some interesting differences between the communities served by the clinics. The system of recording was acceptable to both physicians and coders.