Measurement Tools for Integrated Worker Health Protection and Promotion: Lessons Learned From the SafeWell Project.

Objectives: To describe (a) a conceptual approach, (b) measurement tools and data collection processes, (c) characteristics of an integrated feedback report and action plan, and (d) experiences of three companies with an integrated measurement approach to worker safety and health.

Methods: Three companies implemented measurement tools designed to create an integrated view of health protection and promotion based on organizational- and individual-level assessments. Feedback and recommended actions were presented following assessments at baseline and 1-year follow-up.

The economic impact of a disability prevention program.

We evaluated the effect of an employer- and clinic-based intervention on indemnity, medical, and workers compensation costs. The intervention was designed to improve communication and coordination of employer and physician efforts to help employees with work-related injuries to return-to-work. The research design was a quasi-experimental comparison of expenditures in treatment and control employers and clinics, controlling for differences in baseline expenditures and other characteristics of the subjects.

Correlation between physical activity, fitness, and musculoskeletal injuries in police officers.

In order to explore the correlation between physical activity, fitness, and injury among police officers, a cross section of active-duty members of the Minneapolis Police Department were surveyed about their level of fitness, physical activity, and prevalence of injury and chronic pain within the past year. In the study, officers with the highest self-reported fitness levels were less likely to experience sprains (OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.

Challenges of change: a qualitative study of chronic care model implementation.

Purpose: The Chronic Care Model (CCM) provides a conceptual framework for transforming health care for patients with chronic conditions; however, little is known about how to best design and implement its specifics. One large health care organization that tried to implement the CCM in primary care provided an opportunity to study these issues.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative, comparative case study of 5 of 18 group clinics 18 to 23 months after the implementation began.

Health and performance factors in health care shift workers.

Objectives: To assess the impact of shift work on health care workers.

Subjects And Methods: A cross-sectional study assessed health and performance markers of 188 day and night shift nonphysician health care workers.

Results: Night-shift workers were more likely to report difficulty with routine orders, lower energy levels, unpredictable work schedules, and sleep disturbance but no difference with injuries or motor vehicle crashes.

The Minnesota Health Partnership and Coordinated Health Care and Disability Prevention: the implementation of an integrated benefits and medical care model.

In the spring of 1996, the Minnesota Health Partnership (MHP) received a demonstration grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Workers Compensation Health Initiative to pilot a model of health care that was designed to combine the best practices of general health and workers' compensation medical care. This paper outlines the genesis of the MHP, and the relationship of its Coordinated Health Care and Disability Prevention model to traditional managed care and 24-h care models. In order to effectively implement disability prevention principles within a primary care clinical setting, it is essential to increase health care provider awareness that the disability relating to a specific impairment can be positively impacted by specific clinical strategies.