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ICD-10 Learning Lab Exit Presentation Mode

Category: F60 F61 F62 F63 F64 F65 F66 F68 F69

F69 — Unspecified disorder of adult personality and behaviour: facilitator sheet

Teaching objective

Like F39/F59 elsewhere in this product, F69 exists specifically to test whether a learner can tell the difference between two situations that can look superficially similar: genuinely insufficient information to specify a more precise F60-F68 category (where F69 is the honest, correct answer), and adequate information that simply has not yet been organised into a fuller classification (where reaching for F69 would be avoidably imprecise).

Choose material

Worked example · Case: A genuine gap in the record · Case: Unspecified, or just under-read?

Worked example

Show scenario

A brief referral note reads only: "Patient shows a longstanding pattern of behavioural and interpersonal difficulty, affecting daily functioning; further history not yet available due to an incomplete initial assessment." No detail on the specific pattern, onset, or precipitant is recorded, and the referring service confirms a fuller history could not be obtained before the note was written.

(or reveal one step at a time below)
  1. Reveal step 1

    Step 1 — Confirm a disorder of adult personality or behaviour is genuinely present: 'a longstanding pattern of behavioural and interpersonal difficulty... affecting daily functioning' supports this.

  2. Reveal step 2

    Step 2 — Check what specific detail is available: the specific pattern, onset, and precipitant are all absent.

  3. Reveal step 3

    Step 3 — Check whether more information could reasonably be obtained right now: the note confirms it could not, at this time.

  4. Reveal step 4

    Conclusion — F69, Unspecified disorder of adult personality and behaviour, is the honest classification here, precisely because a relevant disorder is confirmed but genuinely cannot be specified further from what is available.

Comparison points

F69 is reserved for a confirmed disorder of adult personality or behaviour where genuinely insufficient information is available to assign a more specific F60-F68 category; it should never be used simply because specifying would take more effort when the needed information is actually available in the vignette.

Discussion prompts

(or reveal one at a time below)
  1. Prompt 1

    State the two conditions that must both be true before F69 is the correct classification.

  2. Prompt 2

    Explain why F69 should not be used simply because assigning a fuller code would take more careful reading of the vignette.

  3. Prompt 3

    Describe the difference between genuinely insufficient information and information that is present but easy to overlook.

Summary

F69 is the honest classification only when a disorder of adult personality or behaviour is confirmed present and genuinely cannot be specified further from the information available — never a convenience default.