Posthospital Convalescence and Return to Work

The Economic Burden of Opioid-Related Poisoning in the United States

“…In addition, 2 additional days post‐ED discharge and 7 additional days post‐inpatient discharge were assumed for recovery time. These were obtained from recommendations for minimum and routine medical convalescence for poisoning . These recommendations were used as we were unable to identify studies that provided an estimate of absenteeism after an opioid‐poisoning event.…”

“… The discount rate for lost productivity due to mortality is 3%. The prevalence of opioid‐related poisoning ED visits and inpatient stays has remained stable from 2009 to 2011. Opioid poisoning that results in neither death nor ED visit or hospitalization is not considered. One caregiver is allotted for minors (less than 18 years of age). Recovery time is assumed to be 2 days for ED discharges and 7 days for inpatient discharges . Productivity costs are assumed to be reduced by 17.5% to account for the lower labor participation among illicit drug abusers . ED visits due to adverse events are assumed to be unrelated to opioid poisoning. ED visits that result in referral to detoxification clinics or result in admission to detoxification clinics are assumed to be unrelated to poisoning. Missing costs were assumed to be missing at random. …”

The Relationships Between Lost Work Time and Duration of Absence Spells: Proposal for a Payroll Driven Measure of Absenteeism

“…1 The WLR proposed in this article provides employers with a simple way to calculate an absenteeism rate using hourly payroll data that already exists for hourly employees at most companies and organizations. This method also allows for the comparison between different organizations by industry and country as no external assumptions (such as a 40 hours workweek, 240 working days per year, or “usual hours worked”) or explanations such as “sickness” are needed to calculate the WLR.…”

“…As reported by Walsh et al, the majority, if not all absenteeism research not connected to registry data has concentrated on the hourly workforce. 1 This is because payroll data reflects employee attendance for hourly workers; however, no counterpart typically exists for paying salaries. To study salaried workers, researchers would have to either 1) use self-reported data (and all of the inherent difficulties with self-reported data) or 2) study salaried workers for whom an external detailed attendance schema exists, such as school teachers.…”

“…1 Although many researchers have focused on health and medical reasons for absenteeism, others have emphasized personal and social factors. Chadwick-Jones 2 proposes that the choice to attend work is the result of 1) the individual act of choice between alternative activities, 2) a withdrawal or escape from surveillance, or 3) an individual or group’s resistance to an inflexible system.…”