Education and benchmarking among physicians may facilitate sick-listing practice

Area of Science:

• Occupational Medicine
• Health Services Research
• Medical Education

Background:

• Physician assessment of work ability and sickness certification are frequently problematic.
• There is a demand for improved physician knowledge and skills through education and guideline implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between educational interventions in insurance medicine and physicians' sick-listing practices.

Main Methods:

• A web-based questionnaire was administered to physicians in primary care, psychiatry, and orthopedics/rheumatology in southern Sweden in 2007 and 2009.
• The study compared responses before and after the introduction of educational interventions in insurance medicine.

Main Results:

• Physicians participating in educational interventions were more likely to work at clinics with a sick-listing policy.
• Primary care physicians reported more problematic cases and were more likely to issue sickness certificates.
• Factors like longer medical experience and clinic support were associated with fewer reported problematic cases.

Conclusions:

• The sick-listing process presents challenges, particularly for primary care physicians.
• Benchmarking, insurance medicine education, and allocated extra time can improve sick-listing practices.