Goals

To acquaint a medical care provider audience with training about how they can provide medical care consistent with disability management objectives while at the same time providing "best practice" medical care for injured employees.

Objectives

1. A history of return-to-work and transitional employment from the employer’s point of view
   In this section medical care providers will learn about the evolution of return to work from the earliest days of “light duty” to the current employer practices of graduated return-to-work programs. Participants will learn about the current employer trends of providing transitional employment for injured employees. Participants will learn what the goals and objectives of “in house” disability management programs are, and will learn how to improve physician/employer communication regarding injured employees.

2. Work as Therapy
   In this section participants will learn about the concept of work as therapy. Participants will learn how graduated return to work (transitional employment) can be used as a form of on going treatment and evaluation to assist injured employees to recover more rapidly and/or more completely.

3. Hurt Vs. Harm
   This section will explore the fears and concerns that injured employees have about participating in transitional return-to-work programs. Participants will learn methods for developing transitional employment assignments which reduce the chances for re-injury and how medical care providers can help to reduce the anxiety that injured employees have about graduated return-to-work programs.

4. Employer Myths and Fears
   This section will address the fears and concerns that employers have about returning injured employees to modified duty. These will include such beliefs as:
   • Employees should not return to work until they are fully healed.
   • Bringing injured workers back to work in transitional employment increases their chances of re-injury.
   • Bringing injured workers back early is unfair to other workers.
   • Transitional employment assignments should only be based on medical restrictions.
   Participants will learn how to more effectively work with employers to develop medically appropriate transitional employment assignments and how to monitor the patient’s progress during participation in these assignments.

5. Americans with Disabilities Act Issues
   This section will review Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Participants will learn the difference between short-term transitional employment and reasonable accommodation. They will learn about the issues of “direct threat” and under what circumstances bringing an injured employee back to work is not appropriate. Participants will learn to differentiate between temporary, long-lasting and permanent restrictions and what employer’s obligations are to employees who are considered qualified individuals with disabilities (QID).

6. OSHA Issues
   This section will explore OSHA and safety concerns regarding disability management and graduated return to work for injured employees. Participants will learn what constitutes an OSHA reportable injury and will be aware of employers’ concerns about re-injury and new injury issues.

7. FAQs about Transitional Employment
   In this interactive section Physicians will review frequently asked questions about transitional employment. Questions include:
   • Why should my patient try to return to work before he/she has recovered fully?
   • What if my patient does not want to return to transitional employment or light duty?
   • Who is responsible to create transitional employment duties?
   • How long should transitional employment last?
   • What if I am asked to review a job analysis of an employee’s regular job or a transitional employment job?
   • I have my own return-to-work release form. Do I need to fill out the employer’s form?
   • I am always being asked for restriction/limitation information. Furthermore, many of the forms that are sent to me ask for too much detail. What if I simply am not sure about the worker’s capabilities?
   Participants will learn how to work more effectively with the “new generation” of disability management program being developed by employers.

8. Patient Briefing
   Participants will learn how to communicate more effectively with patients who are being released for transitional employment assignments. In this section medical care providers will learn how to increase the likelihood for their patient’s success in these programs by addressing patient’s questions, fears and concerns about returning to work.

9. Questions and Answers
   The training will end with a question and answer period where participants can bring up questions and topics germane to training goals and objectives.