Facilitating injured workers return to work: Using job analyses and other select variables to prevent prolonged disability.

摘要

The objective of this study was to determine if the time an injured worker received temporary disability could be reduced by having the treating physician review a job analysis. Job analyses are customized job descriptions that include the precise physical and mental demands of a specific job. Following the job analysis comparison, age, attorney involvement, direct personal contact with a counselor and body part were examined to determine if those variables could predict disability time as well. A total of 101 injured workers in the construction, logging, oil and gas, structural moving and water well drilling industries were included in the study. All subjects suffered a compensable work injury and had missed at least one week of work. Fifty of the workers had a job analysis performed on their particular job and presented to their respective treating physicians. Fifty-one workers had no job analysis performed and the mean time of disability, in weeks, was compared. Workers over age 49 who had a job analysis presented to their treating physician received significantly fewer weeks of disability than those without a job analysis. A job analysis did not have a significant influence with workers under age 50 however; several limitations of this study may help explain the lack of significance. Other variables were then explored to determine their correlation with time on disability. An injured worker represented by an attorney remained on disability significantly longer than a worker not represented by an attorney. Workers under age 50 who had direct personal contact with a rehabilitation counselor received significantly fewer weeks of disability than those without direct personal contact with a counselor. Injuries to the upper extremity (e.g. shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand or fingers) led to significantly less time on disability when compared to injuries to other body parts.