Akbarzadeh Khorshidi, H.; Aickelin, U.; de Silva, A. Evaluation of the Early Intervention Physiotherapist Framework for Injured Workers in Victoria, Australia: Data Analysis Follow-Up. Healthcare2023, 11, 2205.
Akbarzadeh Khorshidi, H.; Aickelin, U.; de Silva, A. Evaluation of the Early Intervention Physiotherapist Framework for Injured Workers in Victoria, Australia: Data Analysis Follow-Up. Healthcare 2023, 11, 2205.
Akbarzadeh Khorshidi, H.; Aickelin, U.; de Silva, A. Evaluation of the Early Intervention Physiotherapist Framework for Injured Workers in Victoria, Australia: Data Analysis Follow-Up. Healthcare2023, 11, 2205.
Akbarzadeh Khorshidi, H.; Aickelin, U.; de Silva, A. Evaluation of the Early Intervention Physiotherapist Framework for Injured Workers in Victoria, Australia: Data Analysis Follow-Up. Healthcare 2023, 11, 2205.
Abstract
Purpose: This study evaluates the performance of the Early Intervention Physiotherapist Framework (EIPF) for injured workers. This study provides a proper follow-up period (3 years) to examine the impacts of the EIPF program on injury outcomes such as return to work (RTW) and time to RTW. This study also identifies the factors influencing the outcomes. Methods: The study was conducted on data collected from compensation claims of people who were injured at work in Victoria, Australia. Injured workers who commenced their compensation claims after the first of January 2010 and had their initial physiotherapy consultation after the first of August 2014 are included. To conduct the comparison, we divided the injured workers into two groups: physiotherapy services provided by EIPF-trained physiotherapists (EP) and regular physiotherapists (RP) over the three-year intervention period. We used three different statistical analysis methods to evaluate the performance of the EIPF program. We used descriptive statistics to compare two groups based on physiotherapy services and injury outcomes. We also completed survival analysis using Kaplan-Meier curves in terms of time to RTW. We developed univariate and multivariate regression models to investigate whether the difference in outcomes achieved after adjusting for significantly associated variables. Results: The results showed that physiotherapists in the EP group on average dealt with more claims (over twice as many) than those in the RP group. Time to RTW for the injured workers treated by the EP group was significantly lower than for those who were treated by the RP group, indicated by descriptive, survival and regression analyses. Earlier intervention by physiotherapists led to earlier RTW. Conclusion: This evaluation showed that the EIPF program achieved successful injury outcomes three years after implementation. Motivating physiotherapists to intervene earlier in the recovery process of injured workers by initial consultation helps to improve injury outcomes.
Keywords
Early Intervention; Return to Work; Physiotherapists; Workers’ Compensation; Evaluation
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
