Effect on work ability after team evaluation of functioning regarding pain, self-rated disability, and work ability...

Area of Science:

• Occupational Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Pain Management

Background:

• Long-standing pain and prolonged sick leave significantly impact patient quality of life and work capacity.
• Multiprofessional team assessments are utilized to evaluate work ability in patients with chronic conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a brief multiprofessional team assessment on sick leave and activity levels in patients with long-standing pain.
• To determine if the team's assessment of work ability predicts actual patient work outcomes at one-year follow-up.

Main Methods:

• Sixty patients with long-standing pain and on long-term sick leave underwent a 1-2 week multiprofessional team assessment.
• Patients completed questionnaires on daily activities, quality of life, pain, and work status pre-assessment and at 1-year follow-up.
• Team assessments of work ability were compared with actual work rates after 1 year.

Main Results:

• A significant reduction in sick leave and a higher level of activity were observed at the 1-year follow-up (P < 0.001).
• Forty percent of patients showed reduced sickness benefit levels, and 12% returned to full-time work.
• The multiprofessional team's evaluation of work ability did not correlate with the actual work outcomes.

Conclusions:

• A short-term multiprofessional team assessment can improve patient activity and reduce sick leave, independent of rehabilitation efforts.
• Predicting actual work outcomes based on team assessments or patient-specific factors (pain, demographics) was not feasible in this study.
• Further research is needed to identify reliable predictors of work ability and successful return to work for patients with long-standing pain.