Barriers to RTW in hospitals and health care settings
While the incidence rate alone is
a challenge, the usual 24/7 operations of hospitals can also be a barrier. Employers are concerned about patient safety
and cite this as a reason for not returning nurses with restrictions. One of the most frequent obstacles is how hospital
employers budget and account for wages paid while an injured worker is working
on restricted or transitional duty.Opportunities for RTW in hospitals and health care settings
Every industry has its unique challenges. Generally speaking, there are always options for modified duty if one looks hard enough and thinks outside the box. Recently, the Office of Disability Employment Policy (U.S. Department of Labor) funded a study to “identify promising practices and success stories related to RTW efforts and outcomes in the health care industry” (p. vi, 2015). The following is a high level summary of some of their findings. You are encouraged to read the full report here.
Health care employers and subject
matter experts relayed several “best practices” that may benefit other
employers:
· Communication and training regarding RTW
o Ensure that management and supervisors fully understand RTW, its benefits, and best practices
· Working with physicians
o Provide doctors with RTW plans or RTW options for the injured worker they are treating
· Consider the utilization of occupational health providers and/or vocational rehabilitation providers to assist with RTW
· Identify outside sources for transitional work if no work can be found in-house
· Support the case for RTW with financial figures
· Create a system that pays for the transitional duty/modified duty work that ensures accountability for to motivate managers
o Return injured workers to their department
o Reduce injury rates
o Employers may want to consider excluding injured workers on modified duty from productivity rates/counts
Some other highlights of the
article include suggestions regarding a modified duty/transitional duty job
bank. We’ve always recommended employers
maintain a list of tasks that need to be done in the event they have an injured
worker on modified duty but these suggestions take it a step further.
Creating and maintaining a “living” job bank
The participants in the interview
reported that they train supervisors and managers to find and share any
modified duty positions prior to posting them.
These are often short-term jobs that need to be filled. The respondents also reported that they
contact the central staffing unit when looking for potential RTW opportunities
within the hospital. When long term or
permanent restrictions are likely, the employers work with the injured worker,
and sometimes a vocational counselor, to identify interests of the injured worker
and their knowledge, skills and abilities.
If the injured worker would like to work in a different position that
suits his/her restrictions, but requires training, the employer works to
implement that training or provides unpaid volunteering in a particular
department to train and trial the injured worker in that role. The focus is upon retaining current
employees.
Here is a link to the report for your own reading pleasure. The report also highlights seven very interesting and creative RTW success stories.
References:
U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014) Number, incidence rate, and median days away from
work for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from
work by summary occupational groups and ownership. Available at:
http://www.bls.gov/new.release/osh2.t03.htm. Accessed May 14, 2015.
Denne,
J., Kettner, G., and Ben-Shalom, Y. (March, 2015). Return to Work in the health care
sector: Promising practices and success
stories. Washington, D.C.: Mathematica Policy Research. Retrieved from Mathematica Policy Research at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/~/media/publications/pdfs/disability/rtw_health_care_sector.pdf
