Sickness certification of workers compensation claimants by general practitioners in Victoria, 2003–2010

Collie, Alex; Ruseckaite, Rasa; Brijnath, Bianca; Kosny, Agnieszka; Mazza, Danielle

doi:10.5694/mja13.10508

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Interestingly, Mazza and colleagues found that “General practitioners were more likely to certify incapacity to work when the patient was experiencing extenuating social circumstances such as lack of available childcare or marital discord.” The same article also highlighted the difficulties faced by first‐line doctors with adequately completing the forms provided by WCBs due to the lack of focus in the forms on actual activities the worker can and cannot do. Collie and his collaborators found that among a sample of 124 424 initial medical certificates issued by doctors in Victoria, the largest portion was for musculoskeletal injuries and diseases (40.2%) and the majority of all certificates recommended that workers were unfit for work (74.1%), with the highest rate concerning musculoskeletal conditions. Interestingly, articles from Washington looked at the use of medical services depending on the type of first‐line HCP seen by the injured workers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping first‐line health care providers' roles, practices, and impacts on care for workers with compensable musculoskeletal disorders in four jurisdictions: A critical interpretive synthesis

Hudon

Lippel

MacEachen

2019

American J Industrial Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: First-line health care providers are the primary access point for workers' benefits. However, little is known about their impact on quality of care and return-towork. Our objective was to critically compare literature on the practices of first-line providers for workers with musculoskeletal injuries in Ontario and Quebec (Canada), Washington State (United States), and Victoria (Australia). Methods: A critical interpretive synthesis of peer-reviewed scientific literature was conducted. The search across six databases yielded 59 relevant publications that were critically appraised. Results: Three themes emerged: 1) how policies about first-line health care providers' modulate worker access to care, 2) how these providers' roles, practices, and training shape disability management, and 3) how the quality of care and disability outcomes are evaluated. Conclusions: First-line health care providers have a critical influence on workers' trajectories of care. A focus on their role while taking the complexity of the context into account will help orient future policy changes.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping first‐line health care providers' roles, practices, and impacts on care for workers with compensable musculoskeletal disorders in four jurisdictions: A critical interpretive synthesis

Hudon

Lippel

MacEachen

2019

American J Industrial Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Evidence from the rapid review supports that an early return to work for patients with LBP, even if on modified duties, promotes better outcomes for patients and is associated with less disability. Careful consideration should be made to the issuing of medical certificates, as there is evidence to suggest that medical certificates recommending a complete absence from work creates major challenges later in terms of return to work, labour force productivity, the viability of the compensation system and long‐term social and economic development . Although it may not be the ED's responsibility to ensure that systems exist in the work place to facilitate a return to work, it is the ED's role to refer patients appropriately for early co‐ordinated care in the community so that a return to work plan is enacted and extended leave is avoided .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Careful consideration should be made to the issuing of medical certificates, as there is evidence to suggest that medical certificates recommending a complete absence from work creates major challenges later in terms of return to work, labour force productivity, the viability of the compensation system and long-term social and economic development. 81 Although it may not be the ED's responsibility to ensure that systems exist in the work place to facilitate a return to work, it is the ED's role to refer patients appropriately for early co-ordinated care in the community so that a return to work plan is enacted and extended leave is avoided. 82 Evidence suggests there is significant variability in duration of work absence in people with LBP who eventually do return to work, ranging from 5-61 days, which further highlights the importance of early community follow up in order to capture the higher risk patients.…”

Section: Early Return To Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review article: Best practice management of low back pain in the emergency department (part 1 of the musculoskeletal injuries rapid review series)

Strudwick

McPhee

Bell

et al. 2017

Emerg Medicine Australasia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Low back pain (LBP) is a common presentation to the ED, and a frequent cause of disability globally. The ED management is often associated with high rates of imaging, misuse and overuse of pharmacology and subsequent financial implications. Given this, improved quality of care for patients with LBP in ED is essential. This rapid review investigated best practice for the assessment and management of LBP in the ED. PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, TRIP and the grey literature, including relevant organisational websites, were searched in 2015. Primary studies, systematic reviews and guidelines were considered for inclusion. English-language articles published in the past 10 years that addressed acute LBP assessment, management or prognosis in the ED or acute setting were included. Data extraction of included articles was conducted, followed by quality appraisal to rate the level of evidence where possible. The search revealed 1538 articles, of which 38 were included in the review (n = 8 primary articles, n = 13 systematic reviews and n = 17 guidelines). This rapid review provides clinicians managing LBP in the ED a summary of the best available evidence to risk stratify and enhance the quality of care, optimising patient outcomes. Consistent evidence was found to support the use of 'red flags' to screen for serious pathologies, diagnostic tests being reserved for use only in the presence of red flags, the judicious prescribing of opioids, identification of psychosocial risk factors as predictors of poorer outcome and promotion of early return to work and function.

show abstract

“…The GP plays a key role in certification, seeing 96% of all injured workers [21]. The estimated rate of medical certificates in general practice is 8.57 per 1000 workers, with musculoskeletal injuries accounting for approximately 40% of all certificates and mental health conditions for 10% [22]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear of (re)injury and return to work following compensable injury: qualitative insights from key stakeholders in Victoria, Australia

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundReturn to work (RTW) is important for recovery post-injury. Fear of (re)injury is a strong predictor of delayed RTW, and therefore much attention has been given to addressing injured workers’ fear beliefs. However, RTW is a socially-negotiated process and it may be important to consider the wider social context of the injured worker, including the beliefs of the key people involved in their RTW journey.MethodsThis paper involves data collected as part of a wider study in which semi-structured interviews explored RTW from the perspectives of 93 key stakeholders: injured workers, GPs, employers and insurance case managers in Victoria, Australia. Inductive analysis of interview transcripts identified fear of (re)injury as a salient theme across all stakeholder groups. This presented an opportunity to analyse how the wider social context of the injured worker may influence fear and avoidance behaviour. Two co-authors performed inductive analysis of the theme ‘fear of (re)injury’. Codes identified in the data were grouped into five categories. Between and within category analysis revealed three themes describing the contextual factors that may influence fear avoidance and RTW behaviour.ResultsTheme one described how injured workers engaged in a process of weighing up the risk of (re)injury in the workplace against the perceived benefits of RTW. Theme two described how workplace factors could influence an injured workers’ perception of the risk of (re)injury in the workplace, including confidence that the source of the injury had been addressed, the availability and suitability of alternative duties. Theme three described other stakeholders’ reluctance to accept injured workers back at work because of the fear that they might reinjure themselves.ConclusionsOur findings illustrate the need for a contextualised perspective of fear avoidance and RTW behaviour that includes the beliefs of other important people surrounding the injured worker (e.g. employers, family members, GPs). Existing models of health behaviour such as The Health Beliefs Model may provide useful frameworks for interventions targeting the affective, cognitive, social, organisational and policy factors that can influence fear avoidance or facilitate RTW following injury.

show abstract

Sickness certification of workers compensation claimants by general practitioners in Victoria, 2003–2010

Cited by 26 publications

References 14 publications

Mapping first‐line health care providers' roles, practices, and impacts on care for workers with compensable musculoskeletal disorders in four jurisdictions: A critical interpretive synthesis

Mapping first‐line health care providers' roles, practices, and impacts on care for workers with compensable musculoskeletal disorders in four jurisdictions: A critical interpretive synthesis

Review article: Best practice management of low back pain in the emergency department (part 1 of the musculoskeletal injuries rapid review series)

Fear of (re)injury and return to work following compensable injury: qualitative insights from key stakeholders in Victoria, Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About