Implementation of ICD-10 in the Nordic countries

ICD-10 was published in 1992. On 1 January 1994 Denmark, as the first of the Nordic countries, changed to ICD-10 as the official classification system in the psychiatric health service system. Finland followed on 1 January 1996, and the last three of the five countries - Sweden, Norway, and Iceland - did so on 1 January 1997. Preparations for publication of guidelines and teaching material, responsibility for introduction, and implementation of teaching programmes are described. On the basis of acquired experiences it is recommended that the five Nordic psychiatric societies establish and finance a forum for collaboration of key persons in psychopathology, diagnosing, classification, and registration. Such a forum should deal with the development of quality, mutual empirical interchange, and support and should contribute to sustaining the high quality level of classification in the five countries.