Abstract

This projet will determine whether coordinating diagnostic and therapeutic interventions appropriate to each case with attending physicians decreases the length of time workers with back injuries remain unfit for work. Since September 1995, approximately 50 workers having suffered CSST-compensated accidents involving the back have been recruited; in all, 240 workers will be recruited. Half the workers, chosen at random, will receive, in collaboration with their attending physician, a baseline medical evaluation and periodic review of their therapy and the progress of their back problems. The other half will receive conventional care. The research team will consist of an occupational nurse and three general practitioners. Validated tools will be used to establish each worker's prognosis.

The wide range of interventions designed to improve coordination of care include the identification, with workers, of attending physicians, performance of diagnostic tests, and establishment of a dialogue between the employer, the worker and the physician.