What does the sick leave say about us?

How to decipher the diagnosis of the doctor on the sick-bed

Everyone has ever received a yellow certificate from the doctor. The certificate of incapacity for work is issued in triplicate: one for the health insurance company, one for the employer and one for your own documents. But what exactly does the medical certificate reveal about us and, above all, to whom does he reveal what? The duration of the sick leave is obvious, but if you look closely at the specimens for the health insurance and for yourself, you find that the diagnosis is cloned. This code is called IDC-10, which means "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Issues, Release 10". This code key provides information about the exact diagnosis.

Most lay people can not do anything with this code. It can be found in the center of the document under the category "AU founding diagnosis (s) (IDC-10)". Here, doctors, dentists and psychologists enter the IDC-10 code to uniformly document clinical pictures. The system was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) to enable worldwide consistent diagnosis. As of January 01, 2018, an updated version is valid in Germany: "ICD-10-GM". The "GM" stands for "German modification". The German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI) explains in detail how to decode this code.

The employer does not care about the diagnosis

On the execution for the employer, the IDC-10 code is not specified. This would betray too much about the worker and could lead to potential disadvantages at work. The employer has no legal entitlement to know why a worker is sick.

How is the IDC-10-GM code broken down??

A code example is "M16.9 B". The letter stands for a disease group. In this case, "M" stands for diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. The number behind the letter encodes the more precise classification of the disease group. "16" exploits coxarthrosis here. The number behind the dot indicates a subcategory related to the condition. The 9 in the example stands for "unspecified". The "B" is a voluntary additional information and means "both sides". This is therefore an unspecified bilateral coxarthrosis in the hip joints.

Common diseases at a glance

By the first letter you can already see a lot. For example, "F" stands for mental and behavioral disorders, "I" for circulatory system diseases, "J" for respiratory system diseases, "K" for digestive system diseases, "O" for pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. Here are a few common codes:

• A09.9 Bacterial intestinal infection, unspecified
• B34 viral disease
• F32 Depressive episode
• G43 Migraine
• I10 hypertension
• J06 acute upper respiratory tract infection
• J11 flu, viruses not detected
• J45 Asthma
• M54 back pain
• R11 nausea and vomiting
• R42 dizziness and dream
• R50 fever of unknown cause
• R51 headache

Further code keys can be taken from the list of DIMDI. (Vb)