1. Program schedule

Return to work and disability management

Session details

Date:

Time:

12:00pm - 1:30pm (Toronto time)

Location:

Zoom videoconferencing

Didactic presentation by:

Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia

Session objectives

At the end of this session, participants should be able to:

  1. Explain the role of allied health practitioners in return to work and disability management
  2. Recognize resources for suitable workplace accommodations through a biopsychosocial framework
  3. Summarize the "Seven principles for successful return to work”

Session resources

Clinically Organized Relevant Exam (CORE) Back Tool
This tool will guide the family physician and/or nurse practitioner to recognize common mechanical back pain syndromes and screen for other conditions where management may include investigations, referrals and specific medications. This is a focused examination for clinical decision-making in primary care. Source: Centre for Effective Practice
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Cumulative occupational lumbar load and lumbar disc disease – results of a German multi-center case-control study (EPILIFT)
Seidler, A., Bergmann, A., Jäger, M. et al. Cumulative occupational lumbar load and lumbar disc disease – results of a German multi-center case-control study (EPILIFT). BMC Musculoskelet Disord 10, 48 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-10-48
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Didactic presentation: Return to work and disability management
In this presentation, Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia explains the role of allied health practitioners in return to work and disability management, how to recognize resources for suitable workplace accommodations through a biopsychosocial framework, and introduces the "Seven principles for successful return to work”.
Download the PDF(850.72 KB)
Ontario Human Rights Commission: policy and guidelines on disability and the duty to accommodate
This Policy focuses on the workplace, with specific guidance to support employers, unions and employees in the fulfilment of their duties and rights under the Code. Source: Ontario Human Rights Commission
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Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal: medical discussion paper - Osteoarthritis
This medical discussion paper will be useful to those seeking general information about the medical issue involved. It is intended to provide a broad and general overview of a medical topic that is frequently considered in Tribunal appeals. Source: Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal
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About presenter

Dr. Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia is an occupational therapist and assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science at the University of Toronto, where he also holds the inaugural Emily Geldsaler Grant Early Career Professorship in Workplace Mental Health.

Through an occupational lens, his research program is a systematic study of work disability prevention, return to work and disability management. His approach is designed to produce results directly applicable to identifying and assessing risk, and to developing interventions for preventing or improving high-risk behaviours in the workplace.

Nowrouzi-Kia’s work is motivated by efforts in work disability prevention that extend beyond efforts to prevent or cure diseases from a purely physical perspective to more holistic approaches. The major tenets of his work use a biopsychosocial perspective to understand work disability and incorporate personal characteristics (e.g. psychosocial) and environmental (e.g., health-care system, workplace, workers’ compensation system) factors in improving health outcomes.

Case presentations

Most of the learning in ECHO happens through presenting and discussing case presentations. If you have a case you would like to present, please submit a completed case presentation form to the ECHO OEM project coordinator.

Physicians presenting a case may bill OHIP for case conferences (billing codes K707 or K701).