Work Injury Screening and Early intervention (WISE) Study

In the Intervention hospitals, those workers found to be at significant risk for a long-term disability (who meet the inclusion criteria) will be offered a specified management protocol. High risk cases will be defined according to their score on the modified Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire – short form (OMPSQ-SF) (greater than or equal to 50/100). The OMPSQ-SF is designed to identify known psychosocial risk factors for long-term disability following a musculoskeletal injury. The OMPSQ-SF is to be administered as soon as possible after the worker first reports his/her claim (within 5 working days of the injury). The OMPSQ-SF items will be read out (over the telephone) to each injured worker by a claims manager and that officer will note the score (between 0-10) for each item. But the officer will not determine the total score for a particular case. Instead, this will be completed by the Research Manager (the same day) separately. Subsequently, the Research Manager will notify the Intervention claims manager if a particular case is in the high risk category. The implementation of the protocol will be the responsibility of the RTW coordinator for the identified worker’s hospital once s/he has been advised by the insurance Claims Manager that a case is in the high risk category. The protocol will include the immediate referral to a nominated clinical psychologist for an assessment of the psychosocial obstacles for early recovery and return to work. The RTW coordinator will then contact the nominated treating doctor (NTD) to explain the research project and to seek his/her cooperation and consent for the referral to the nominated clinical psychologist for up to 6 treatment sessions (i.e. 1 hour sessions at least once per week for up to 6 sessions in total). The RTW coordinator will also request the claims manager to refer the injured worker to a nominated independent medical consultant (IMC) for an early specialist review (< 3 weeks). The IMC will provide a report on his/her findings and recommendations to the NTD, RTW coordinator, and the claims manager. It is also expected that the RTW coordinators will be in close (and early) contact with each injured worker’s workplace supervisor to assist the RTW processes (e.g., identify and resolve any workplace-based RTW obstacles as required) as per usual practice. The protocol will also require a review by an independent physiotherapist if any physiotherapy treatments are continuing beyond 6 weeks. The referral for this review will be made by the claims manager within 2-3 weeks of the initial claim. The intervention protocol is expected to run for 8 weeks.