Classification of procedures
In response to the request from a number of member states of WHO the organization had drafted a classification of therapeutic, diagnostic and prophylactic procedures in medicine, covering surgery, radiology, laboratory and other procedures. This classification is called "International classification of Procedures in Medicine (ICPM)" and has been published in 1978. It consists of the following nine chapters: 1 procedures for medical diagnoses 2 laboratory procedures 3 radiology and certain other applications of physics in medicine 4 preventive procedures 5 surgical procedures 6 / 7 drugs, medicaments and biological agents 8 other therapeutical procedures 9 ancillary procedures Regrettably WHO didn't develop this classification since then, so that this classification isn’t up to date any more.
For that reason some countries developed national editions of the ICPM. These are: ICD 9-CM Volume 3 in the USA, CHOP in Switzerland, ICPM-DE in the Netherlands and others. The main disadvantage of these editions is, that they contain mainly surgical procedures, invasive diagnostic procedures only scattered. The chapter radiology, laboratory and drug therapy are missing till now. The latest development is the German edition of ICPM, called OPS. This version covers all chapters of WHO-ICPM and is adapted to the approved structure, but is much more detailed and up-to-date with modern clinical standard of diagnostics and treatment.