Incorporating Injured Employee Outcomes into Physical and Occupational Therapists’ Practice: A Controlled Trial of the Worker-Based Outcomes Assessment System

Details

• Personal Author:
  Amick BC ; Callas PW ; Rooney T ; Ross RH ; Sargent JQ
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) remain costly. The Worker-Based Outcomes Assessment System (WBOAS) is an injury treatment improvement tool. Its purpose is to increase treatment effectiveness and decrease the cost of care delivered in Occupational Health Service clinics. METHODS: The study used a non-randomized (parallel cohort) control trial design to test the effects on injured employee outcomes of augmenting the standard care delivered by physical and occupational therapists (PT/OTs) with the WBOAS. The WBOAS works by putting patient-reported functional health status, pain symptom, and work role performance outcomes data into the hands of PT/OTs and their patients. Test clinic therapists were trained to incorporate WBOAS trends data into standard practice. Control clinic therapists delivered standard care alone. RESULTS: WBOAS-augmented PT/OT care did improve (p< or =.05) physical functioning and new injury/re-injury avoidance and, on these same dimensions, cost-adjusted outcome. It did not improve (p>.05) mental health or pain symptoms or return-to-work or stay-at-work success nor, on these same dimensions, cost-adjusted outcome. CONCLUSION: Training PT/OTs to incorporate patient-reported health status, pain symptom, and work role performance outcomes trends data into standard practice does appear to improve treatment effectiveness and cost on some (e.g. physical functioning) but not other (e.g. mental health, pain symptoms) outcomes. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Health Promotion Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace
• Keywords:
  Health-care Health-care-personnel Health-programs Health-services Health-surveys Injury-prevention Muscle-stress Muscular-disorders Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Occupational-health-nursing Occupational-health-services Occupational-safety-programs Physical-stress Physical-therapy Work-analysis Work-environment Work-practices Worker-health

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• ISSN:
  1053-0487
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; Vermont
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031625
• Citation:
  J Occup Rehabil 2006 Dec; 16(4):607-629
• Contact Point Address:
  Department of Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Vermont, 302 Rowell Building, 106 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT 05405
• Email:
  rhross@uvm.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  Vermont University, Burlington, Vermont
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20000930
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation
• End Date:
  20030529
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:30efe3e65c00c0cd43f2e47f19027b64a918eca7c465119efc66eb9481d8fd8bd1ca3d7a6eeda0c6b93939dc63a91ba0a5fc083a3e1b7c04377f7b4361d8927e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185867/cdc_185867_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 276.84 KB ]