Guidelines for healthcare professionals

-Automatic translation

According to the Medical Director of Health and Public Health Act, one of the main functions of the Directorate of Health is to provide advice and information to healthcare practitioners on matters within the Directorate's sphere.

Procedures and practices

• Circular (Dreifibréf) in Published material. Select "Open Filter" and then "Tegund útgáfu: Dreifibréf". (Icelandic)

• Clinical guidelines

• Clinical guidelines for breast screening

• Good medical practice. Published 2017 (Icelandic)

Professional guidelines on the treatment and monitoring of diseases

• Professional guidelines from the Directorate of Health on the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of endometriosis. Published 2026 (Icelandic)

Births

•  Published 2007 (Icelandic)

• Professional guidelines for midwives' home services. Published 2014 (Icelandic)

Quality of healthcare

• Quality development in healthcare

• Let's promote quality and safety in Icelandic healthcare. Published 2016 (Icelandic)

• Incidents in healthcare services

• ACG index and quality criteria

• DRG - Casemix funding in health care

• InterRAI Assessment on the need for nursing homes and the health of nursing home residents

• Operating theatres - criteria Published 2017. Updated 2024 (Icelandic)

Pharmaceuticals

• Prescriptions - Good medical practice

• Circular from the Directorate of Health no. 2/2015 on prescriptions in healthcare (Icelandic)

• Antibiotics and resistance: Information for professionals

Public health

• Clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism in health care. Motivational interview techniques. (Icelandic)

• Clear air. Smoking cessation treatment and tobacco control. Handbook for health professionals. Published 2002 (Icelandic)

• Checklist - Safety in psychiatric wards, treatment, and residential facilities for individuals assessed as dangerous to themselves and others. Published 2026 (Icelandic)

Operation of health services

• Operation of health services – Minimum professional requirements

Cancer screening

• Guidelines for cervical screening

• Colposcopy - instructions and flow chart (Icelandic)

• Screening during pregnancy - instructions (Icelandic)

• Follow-up after treatment (cone-biopsy) - instructions and flowchart (Icelandic)

• Professional guidelines from the Directorate of Health for providers of colonoscopies and population-based screening for colorectal cancer (Icelandic)

Registration in healthcare

• Registration in health services

• Minimum recording in health services

• Guidelines for writing death certificates

Medical records

• Security and quality of medical records. Published 2015. (Icelandic)

• Instructions on information security regarding telehealth services. Published 2019. (Icelandic)

Communicable disease control

• under the Act on Health Security and Communicable Diseases (no 19/1997) (Icelandic) and the regulation on reporting of communicable diseases and agents posing a threat to public health (no 221/2012).

• Vaccinations - healthcare professional information

• Pertussis - healthcare professional information

• Mpox (Icelandic)

• Measles infection prevention. Published February 2024

• Foodborne infections and food poisoning. Guidelines for professionals (Icelandic)

  • Guidelines for returning to school and work following an E. coli (STEC) outbreak at Mánagardur Preschool. When children can return to school and adults to work.

• Infection control within healthcare (Icelandic)

• Procedures for the Medical Examination of Immigrants to Iceland

• Antibiotics and resistance: information for professionals (Icelandic)

• Screening in prisons (Icelandic)

• Urinary tract infections in elderly people outside hospitals (Icelandic)