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Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study
BACKGROUND: GPs are under considerable pressure providing routine care. However, they may not be the most appropriate professionals to manage getting patients back to work, and keeping them there. OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility of delivering occupational therapy-led vocational clinics (OTVoc) to...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2020
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7734822/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33308145 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12875-020-01340-5 |
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author | Drummond, Avril Coole, Carolyn Nouri, Fiona Ablewhite, Jo Smyth, Genevieve |
author_facet | Drummond, Avril Coole, Carolyn Nouri, Fiona Ablewhite, Jo Smyth, Genevieve |
author_sort | Drummond, Avril |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: GPs are under considerable pressure providing routine care. However, they may not be the most appropriate professionals to manage getting patients back to work, and keeping them there. OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility of delivering occupational therapy-led vocational clinics (OTVoc) to provide return to work advice and support for people with musculoskeletal conditions and mental health problems, in primary care. METHODS: Prospective mixed methods study in two primary care centres (eight GP surgeries). We collected anonymised service level data on all patients receiving OTVoc. Next, patient participants who met inclusion criteria and consented, undertook baseline and 3-month follow-up assessments. Interviews were also conducted to explore stakeholders’ views- GPs, Nurse Practitioners, Front Desk Staff, Occupational Therapists, patients and their employers about OTVoc- and included study eligibility, referral, experiences and attitudes to return to work. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. RESULTS: The majority of standardized measures showed some improvement over the study period: the sickness absence rate dropped from 71 to 15% and use of GP ‘fit’ notes reduced from 76 to 6%. Interview data indicated positive attitudes to OTVoc, the use of the fit note and the Allied Health Professions Health and Work Reports (AHP H&WRs). GPs felt that OTVoc reduced their workload. CONCLUSION: Further research is feasible and warranted. OTVoc was positively received and stakeholders believed it was effective in getting patients back to work or preparing for their return. There was enthusiasm for extending service eligibility criteria, suggesting potential for further development and evaluation. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7734822 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77348222020-12-15 Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study Drummond, Avril Coole, Carolyn Nouri, Fiona Ablewhite, Jo Smyth, Genevieve BMC Fam Pract Research Article BACKGROUND: GPs are under considerable pressure providing routine care. However, they may not be the most appropriate professionals to manage getting patients back to work, and keeping them there. OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility of delivering occupational therapy-led vocational clinics (OTVoc) to provide return to work advice and support for people with musculoskeletal conditions and mental health problems, in primary care. METHODS: Prospective mixed methods study in two primary care centres (eight GP surgeries). We collected anonymised service level data on all patients receiving OTVoc. Next, patient participants who met inclusion criteria and consented, undertook baseline and 3-month follow-up assessments. Interviews were also conducted to explore stakeholders’ views- GPs, Nurse Practitioners, Front Desk Staff, Occupational Therapists, patients and their employers about OTVoc- and included study eligibility, referral, experiences and attitudes to return to work. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. RESULTS: The majority of standardized measures showed some improvement over the study period: the sickness absence rate dropped from 71 to 15% and use of GP ‘fit’ notes reduced from 76 to 6%. Interview data indicated positive attitudes to OTVoc, the use of the fit note and the Allied Health Professions Health and Work Reports (AHP H&WRs). GPs felt that OTVoc reduced their workload. CONCLUSION: Further research is feasible and warranted. OTVoc was positively received and stakeholders believed it was effective in getting patients back to work or preparing for their return. There was enthusiasm for extending service eligibility criteria, suggesting potential for further development and evaluation. BioMed Central 2020-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC7734822/ /pubmed/33308145 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12875-020-01340-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Drummond, Avril Coole, Carolyn Nouri, Fiona Ablewhite, Jo Smyth, Genevieve Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
title | Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
title_full | Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
title_fullStr | Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
title_full_unstemmed | Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
title_short | Using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
title_sort | using occupational therapists in vocational clinics in primary care: a feasibility study |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7734822/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33308145 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12875-020-01340-5 |
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