Article

PURPOSE: To determine the agreement between occupational physician (OP) ratings
of an employee's readiness to return to work (RRTW). METHOD: Anonymized written
vignettes of 132 employees, sick-listed for at least 3 weeks, were reviewed by 5
OPs. The OPs intuitively rated RRTW as the ability (knowledge and skills) and
willingness (motivation and confidence) of sick-listed employees to resume work.
Inter-OP percentages of agreement were calculated and Cohen's kappas (kappa) were
determined to correct for agreement by chance.
RESULTS: The percentage of
agreement between OPs was 57% (range 39-89%) on the ability and 63% (range
48-87%) on the willingness of sick-listed employees to resume work. The mean
kappa was 0.14 (range from -0.21 to 0.79) for ability and 0.25 (range from -0.11
to 0.74) for willingness. The OP-rating of RRTW of employees sick-listed with
mental disorders did not differ from the OP-rating of RRTW of employees with
musculoskeletal disorders. CONCLUSION: The inter-OP agreement on intuitively
rated RRTW showed a wide variability, which accentuates the need for instruments
to establish an employee's RRTW and for training in giving well founded return to
work recommendations.

Langue : ANGLAIS