Abstract
Background
Prolonging working careers is a key policy goal in ageing populations in Europe, but reaching this goal is complex. Occupational health services are in the best position to contribute towards prolonging working careers, through preventing illnesses that cause work disability and early pensions. However, this requires close follow-up and recording of patient health status during consultations, as well as continuity of care. We aimed to determine whether a combined educational and electronic reminder system could improve the recording and follow-up of patient primary care visits in occupational health care, and through this, to impact on sickness absence rates.
Methods
This study is a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial using medical record data. Data were extracted from routine patient registers collected by Pihlajalinna Työterveys from 2015 to 2017. Data were cleaned and analysed intention-to-treat using ANCOVA.
Results
There was no significant difference between intervention and control sites in terms of sickness absences of different duration. Process indicators suggested that there was a change in physicians’ practice following the educational component of the intervention.
Conclusion
Education with an electronic reminder can change physicians’ practice, but longer term follow-up is needed to determine whether this impacts on patients’ sickness absences.
Blended E-health module on return to work embedded in collaborative occupational health care for common mental disorders: design of a cluster randomized controlled trial