Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:27:14.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Roles, Functions and Effectiveness of Treating Doctors in the Management of Occupational Injury: Perceptions of Key Stakeholders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2015

Dianna T. Kenny*
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney
*
Department of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe 2141 NSW, Australia.
Get access

Extract

Key stakeholders' perceptions of the role of the treating doctor, including treating doctors themselves, in the management of workplace injury and in occupational rehabilitation of injured workers was assessed via in-depth semi-structured interviews of doctors and via interviews and surveys of other stakeholders (injured workers, employers, rehabilitation co-ordinators, rehabilitation providers and insurers) in the post-injury period. A number of difficulties were identified by both doctors themselves and by other stakeholders in the treating doctors' management of compensable work injury clients. It was argued that these problems were a function of the conflict of interest that arises for various service providers within the current workers' compensation system and the polarised and adversarial nature of relationships between providers. The discussion of the underlying structural and policy problems inherent in the current workers' compensation system at various levels of practice which this study has highlighted provides a first step in attempts to resolve these difficulties in individual practitioner-client relationships.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Cameron, S. J. (1996). Workers' compensation — what role the doctor? Medical Journal of Australia, 164, 2627.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cottone, R. (1988). The search for a scientific foundation for ethical theory in vocational rehabilitation. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 54 (1), 2126.Google Scholar
Gallagher, R. M., Rauh, V., & Haugh, L. D. (1989). Determinants of return-to-work among low back pain patients. Pain, 39, 5567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grillo, J., Brown, R., Hisabeck, R., Price, J., & Lees-Haley, P. (1994). Raising doubts about claims of malingering: Implications of relationships between MCMI-11 and MMPI-2 performances. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50, 651655.3.0.CO;2-C>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guest, G. H., & Drummond, P. D. (1992). Effect of compensation on emotional state and disability in chronic back pain. Pain, 45, 125–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1967). The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Manual. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
James, C. (1989). Social Sequelae of Occupational Injury and Illness. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.Google Scholar
Jayson, M. (1992). Trauma, back pain, malingering, and compensation. British Medical Journal, 305, 78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Job, R.F.S. (1987). The aftermath of repetition strain injury: Sex differences and the effects of sexism among medical practitioners. Paper presented at the 8th National Behavioural Medicine Conference. Sydney, Australia (10 2–4).Google Scholar
Kenny, D. T. (1994). Determinants of time lost from workplace injury: The impact of the injury, the injured, the industry, the intervention and the insurer. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research, 17, 333342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenny, D. T. (1995a). Common themes, different perspectives: A systemic analysis of employer-employee experiences of occupational rehabilitation. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 39, 5477.Google Scholar
Kenny, D. T. (1995b). Failures in occupational rehabilitation: A case study analysis. Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling, 1, 3345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, D. T. (1995c). Occupational rehabilitation assessed: The verdict of injured workers. Paper presented to the WorkCover Authority of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Loeser, J. (1995). The iatrogenic role of the physician in the treatment of work-related compensable injury. Paper presented at the 12th International Federation of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Sydney, Australia (03 27–31).Google Scholar
Lustman, P. J., Velozo, C. A., Eubanks, B., Montag, J. A., & Cole, D.M. (1991). Psychiatric disorder: Effects on rehabilitation and ability to return to work. Work, 3743.Google ScholarPubMed
Milhous, R. L., Haugh, L. D., & Frymoyer, J. W. (1989). Determinants of vocational disability in patients with lower back pain. Archives of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation, 70, 589593.Google Scholar
Millon, T. (1987). Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Nies, K. J., & Sweet, J. J. (1994). Neuropsychological assessment and malingering: A critical review of past and present strategies. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 501–51.Google Scholar
Quinlan, M., & Bohle, P. (1991). Managing occupational health and safety in Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Macmillan Australia.Google Scholar
Rawling, P. J. (1994). The use of neuropsychological techniques to detect simulated cognitive impairment. In Touyz, S., Byrne, D., & Gilandis, A.. (Eds), Neuropsychology in clinical practice (pp. 401416). Sydney: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Resnick, P. J. (1988). Malingering of post traumatic disorders. In Rogers, R. (Ed), Clinical assessment of malingering and deception (pp. 84107). New York: Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Tarvydas, V. M., & Cottone, R. (1991). Ethical responses to legislative, organizational, and economic dynamics: A four level model of ethical practice. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 22 (1), 1118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, C., & Thorpe, B. (1992). Beyond industrial sociology. Sydney, Australia: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Wilson, C. A., Rubin, S. E., & Millard, R. P. (1991). Preparing rehabilitation counsellors to deal with ethical dilemmas. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 22 (1), 3033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WorkCover Authority of New South Wales. (1992). Workers Compensation Statistics. New South Wales: Author.Google Scholar