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Education and Benchmarking Among Physicians May Facilitate Sick-Listing Practice.

Bremander, Ann LU ; Hubertsson, Jenny LU ; Petersson, Ingemar LU and Grahn, Birgitta LU (2012) In Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 22. p.78-87
Abstract
Introduction Assessing work ability and sickness certification are considered problematic by many physicians and education and implementation of guidelines to improve knowledge and skills has been requested. Our aim was to study the association between such interventions and physicians' sick-listing practices. Methods A web-based questionnaire was sent to all physicians working in primary care, psychiatry, orthopedics/rheumatology in the southern region of Sweden before (in 2007 to 1,063 physicians) and after (in 2009 to 1,164 physicians) educational interventions in insurance medicine were offered. Results With a response rate of 58%, half of the physicians (51%) reported to work at a clinic with a sick-listing policy in 2009 compared... (More)
Introduction Assessing work ability and sickness certification are considered problematic by many physicians and education and implementation of guidelines to improve knowledge and skills has been requested. Our aim was to study the association between such interventions and physicians' sick-listing practices. Methods A web-based questionnaire was sent to all physicians working in primary care, psychiatry, orthopedics/rheumatology in the southern region of Sweden before (in 2007 to 1,063 physicians) and after (in 2009 to 1,164 physicians) educational interventions in insurance medicine were offered. Results With a response rate of 58%, half of the physicians (51%) reported to work at a clinic with a sick-listing policy in 2009 compared with 31% in 2007. Primary care physicians (OR 12.4) and physicians who had participated in educational interventions in insurance medicine (OR 2.4) more often had a sick-listing policy at the clinic. Physicians with a longer medical experience (OR 0.7) and those with support at the clinic (OR 0.3) and the possibility to extend time if needed (OR 0.4) were less likely to report of problematic cases while primary care physicians were (OR 2.9). On the contrary, physicians who reported to rarely have the possibility to extend time when handling problematic cases were more likely to issue a higher number of sickness certificates. Conclusions The sick-listing process is often viewed as problematic and more often by primary care physicians. Benchmarking and education in insurance medicine together with the possibility to allocate extra time if encountering problematic cases may facilitate sick-listing practice. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation
volume
22
pages
78 - 87
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000300294900007
  • pmid:21769594
  • scopus:84862259531
ISSN
1053-0487
DOI
10.1007/s10926-011-9321-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Department of Orthopaedics (Lund) (013028000), Division of Physiotherapy (Closed 2012) (013042000)
id
54a0a1d6-0cdf-446b-b160-1ac420987032 (old id 2058500)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21769594?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:10:31
date last changed
2022-03-31 01:25:55
@article{54a0a1d6-0cdf-446b-b160-1ac420987032,
  abstract     = {{Introduction Assessing work ability and sickness certification are considered problematic by many physicians and education and implementation of guidelines to improve knowledge and skills has been requested. Our aim was to study the association between such interventions and physicians' sick-listing practices. Methods A web-based questionnaire was sent to all physicians working in primary care, psychiatry, orthopedics/rheumatology in the southern region of Sweden before (in 2007 to 1,063 physicians) and after (in 2009 to 1,164 physicians) educational interventions in insurance medicine were offered. Results With a response rate of 58%, half of the physicians (51%) reported to work at a clinic with a sick-listing policy in 2009 compared with 31% in 2007. Primary care physicians (OR 12.4) and physicians who had participated in educational interventions in insurance medicine (OR 2.4) more often had a sick-listing policy at the clinic. Physicians with a longer medical experience (OR 0.7) and those with support at the clinic (OR 0.3) and the possibility to extend time if needed (OR 0.4) were less likely to report of problematic cases while primary care physicians were (OR 2.9). On the contrary, physicians who reported to rarely have the possibility to extend time when handling problematic cases were more likely to issue a higher number of sickness certificates. Conclusions The sick-listing process is often viewed as problematic and more often by primary care physicians. Benchmarking and education in insurance medicine together with the possibility to allocate extra time if encountering problematic cases may facilitate sick-listing practice.}},
  author       = {{Bremander, Ann and Hubertsson, Jenny and Petersson, Ingemar and Grahn, Birgitta}},
  issn         = {{1053-0487}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{78--87}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation}},
  title        = {{Education and Benchmarking Among Physicians May Facilitate Sick-Listing Practice.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10926-011-9321-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10926-011-9321-5}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}