Affiliations: [a] Center for Research in Occupational Health (CiSAL), University Pompeu Fabra - Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain
| [b]
CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain
| [c] Occupational Health Service, Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona, Spain
| [d] Public Health and Preventive Medicine Training Unit, Parc de Salut Mar, University Pompeu Fabra - Public Health Agency of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| [e] Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Social, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javerina, Bogotá, Colombia
| [f] Nursing Department, Nursing and Podiatry Faculty, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| [g] Healthy Working Lives Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Mercè Soler-Font, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Tel.: +34 933160876; E-mail: merce.soler@upf.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Case management interventions have shown to be effective to prevent musculoskeletal pain and disability, but a single definition has not been achieved, nor an agreed profile for case managers. OBJECTIVE: To describe the elements that define case management and case managers tasks for return-to-work of workers with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). METHODS: A comprehensive computerized search of articles published in English until February 16, 2021 was carried out in several bibliographic databases. Grey literature was obtained through a search of 13 key websites. A peer-review screening of titles and abstracts was carried out. Full text in-depth analysis of the selected articles was performed for data extraction and synthesis of results. RESULTS: We identified 2,422 documents. After full-text screening 31 documents were included for analysis. These were mostly European and North American and had an experimental design. Fifteen documents were published between 2010 to 2021 and of these 7 studies were published from 2015. Fifteen elements were identified being the commonest “return-to-work programme” (44.4%) and “multidisciplinary assessment/interdisciplinary intervention” (44.4%). Of 18 tasks found, the most frequent was “establishing goals and planning return-to-work rehabilitation” (57.7%). Eighteen referral services were identified. CONCLUSIONS:Despite there were several elements frequently reported, some elements with scientific evidence of their importance to deal with MSDs (e.g. early return-to-work) were almost not mentioned. This study proposes key points for the description of case management and case managers tasks.
Keywords: Case manager, sickness absence, workplace, services, description
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-205172
Journal: Work, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 1069-1087, 2021
