Education and Benchmarking Among Physicians May Facilitate Sick-Listing Practice

Abstract

The sick-listing process is often viewed as problematic and more often by primary care physicians. Benchmarking and education in insurance medicine together with the possibility to allocate extra time if encountering problematic cases may facilitate sick-listing practice.

The capacity to work puzzle: a qualitative study of physicians’ assessments for patients with common mental disorders

“…Time constraints as a barrier for doing adequate assessments have been confirmed in several studies [ 3 ]. As a consequence, Bremander et al (2012) [ 37 ] found that physicians without the possibility to extend the consultation time when necessary issued sickness certificates more often. A further complication in these assessments was the patient’s changing “present”, because greater understanding of the patients work capacity over time, and the natural course of recovery or deterioration in patients, contributed to changed, added or vanished puzzle pieces over time.…”

Occupational health physicians have better work conditions for handling sickness certification compared with general practitioners: Results from a nationwide survey in Sweden

“…Most OPs in Sweden become board-certified OPs after some or many years of work experience in other fields of medicine. In a recent study, it was reported that physicians who had more years in the profession and who had the possibility to extend time for complicated sick-listing cases were less likely to report problematic cases when assessing work ability [18]. Among OPs, a rather high proportion (46%) had a well-established workplace policy and substantial support from their immediate manager regarding sickness certification tasks, compared with gPs (32%) and especially with physicians working in other clinical settings (14%).…”

Primary Healthcare Professionals’ Experiences of the Sick Leave Process: A Focus Group Study in Sweden

“…The general principles include recommendations regarding required documentation in sickness certificates, the assessment of work ability as a tool for intervention, patient participation, early commitment, contact with the workplace, and assessing functioning and work ability related to work demands and possible work modifications [27]. Recent surveys conducted in Sweden showed that a majority of physicians perceive the guidelines as being useful, primarily in communication with patients [30]; however, physicians still experience work ability assessments as being difficult [31]. In the United Kingdom, sharing the sickness certification responsibility is part of the fitness for work initiative, which aims to develop the roles of the key members of the PHC team [28] and the NICE guidance on long-term sick leave provides opportunities for other healthcare professionals to assist in early return to work [32].…”