Work rehabilitation (WR), target at helping patients return to work, was one of the core service of Occupational Therapy (OT) since its beginning in 1950s. In 2002, a major revamp of the service model to reorganize the WR service for standardization and improvement was conducted by the Work Rehabilitation Specialty Group (SG) under the OTCOC in HA. Idea of designated centers in each cluster was adopted which helped to align service standard and nurture expertise. As a result, 10 designated Work Rehabilitation Centers (DWRC) is formed.
In 2004, the 10 Work Rrehabilitation centers started to collect data on patients’ profile, throughput and outcome; and formed a minimal data set. Regular analysis of the data provided valuable information for service planning and evaluation. This presentation is the review of the application of the data set from 2004 till 2018.
Over these years, a number of quality improvements were made.
1. Learning that the majority of the caseload condition is Low Back Pain (LBP) of Musculoskeletal Conditions, a LBP Work Rehabilitation Protocol was developed in 2005 - 2007 to share among the DWRC.
2. Analyzing the factors for delaying the outcome of return to work is related to psychosocial issues, a reference to enhance work readiness and return to work process were developed in 2013. The practice was aligned among the OTs of the DWRC.
3. After learning the data characteristics of the majority condition groups, focus of data collection changes towards those new emerging clinical conditions which in need of work rehabilitation protocol development in 2016. These include Cardiac, Oncology, CVA, Neurological and Other Medical conditions.
4. With increasing cases of injured commercial drivers refer for work rehabilitation, a Driver Rehabilitation Protocol for this occupational group is developing in 2018
Lately, with the OT Work Rehabilitation Assessment report (in CMS) could be interfaced by the Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System (CDARS) in December 2016, the collection method change from paper marking format to extraction of minimal data in CMS by CDARS. The validation of the conversion was conducted by a 3-month project. Satisfactory outcome was shown with the mean of accuracy is 90% .
In conclusion, the minimal data set helped to build a more effective Service Delivery Model among the DWRC. Quality of practice of OT in work rehabilitation service in HA is standardized. This further facilitates the development of relevant condition-specific protocols with evidence and local trial.
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