Developing a sucessful rehabilitation program: case study

Garry talks about the rehabilitation program they developed for staff at Concord Hospital and their subsequent research evaluation. This research was conducted with Andrew McGarity as the rehabilitation Coordinator at Concord Hospital; Darren Wilson, psychologist; A/Prof Michael Nicholas, Clinical Psychologist; and Prof Steven Linton.

MW: Garry, what started you on the path of return to work program development?

"Back in 2004 we had a large number of claims– about 300 open claims. We thought we were providing good quality medical management and case management, but we didn't seem to be making headway in improving our not so good return to work and claim results.

"I had a few particularly difficult patients with chronic pain at the time. This, and the large number of claims and higher-than-average time off work, led us to do reconsider the way we were managing our work injuries.
 

OK, I get the picture. It’s a difficult situation, and often made more difficult when you are trying to change it from within. What did you do?

Cont... http://www.rtwmatters.org/opinion/featureG.php?id=266

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