Review of Coding Programs in Iran

Medical information plays a pivotal role in collecting health information which can be used to determine the main health problems at national and international levels and to change main health policies. Patient management is impossible without having accurate information regarding prevention, treatment and recovery of diseases. Thus, in this issue of International Electronic Journal of Medicine (IEJM), a brief review on coding systems in Iran is published. Daily increase in the number of hospitalized patients and the high volume of medical information have highlighted the need for information systems to store, maintain, retrieve and analyze information of the patients' records. These systems are potentially helpful in data summarizing and categorizing. Coding software can facilitate these processes and reduce the possibility of errors, costs and time consumption. Still, it seems that currently used software need to be improved. Here we will review the most common coding applications used in Iran.