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PubMed1975

[Assessment of the mental load of flight managers and of perforating machine operators by means of measuring the residual mental capacity via the subsidiary task method].

The purpose of the study is to evaluate mental loading due to working activities in two occupational groups--flight managers and punching machine operators. Changes in residual mental capacity are studied in relation to character of the specific work performed and working conditions. Residual capacity changes, measured with the method of double task assignment, disclose an essential difference in the nature of labour inherent of the two professions under study. The increased quantity of tasks performed under normal conditions of work exerts less influence on the level of residual mental capacity than work assignments fulfilled under complicated situations (such as bad weather conditions and the like). The level of residual mental capacity is likewise altered under the effect of fatigue in the course of the working day.

Aerospace Medicine↗
PubMed1994

[Taste disorders in forensic medicine].

Taste disorders can a rise from lesions of peripheral receptors, taste control pathways or cortical area involvement. Among peripheral lesions, trauma of the tongue and oropharynx are the most common. Iatrogenic lesions of facial and glossopharingeal nerves are very important in Forensic Medicine, while there are different opinions about taste alterations due to head injuries; hypogeusia associated to smell disorders are found in 0.4-0.5% of patient after head trauma with good prognosis (90% healing) while qualitative disorders are more common (30%). The Authors describe clinical methodologies for taste evaluation and their application in Forensic Medicine. Forensic estimation of taste disorders con be classified by two main groups: study of cause relation between the occurrence and damage and quantitative valuation of the damage in three different juridical ambits: Penal, Civil, Insurance and foresight. In Penal Right taste damages could be classified among personal lesion crimes and can be classified as serious (permanent injury of taste) ore very serious (complete lost of taste function). Italian Legislation equipare the 5 sense organs. In Civil Right evaluation the so-called "biologic damage" and working ability are considered; this means very different evaluations. In the most recent baremes, generic damage is estimated by different Authors from 0 to 10% while with regard to specific working capacity, common evaluation criteria does not exist. In Insurance taste disorders evaluation is based only on working ability and not on biologic damage. In the previdenzial ambit, taste disorders are not even included in the most recent tables of permanent invalidity estimation. The Authors propose new and more efficacious valutation criteria for taste disorders in all ambits, hoping for more interest in the Forensic aspects of taste, a too often forgotten sensory function.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Development and validation of a short-form functional capacity evaluation for use in claimants with low back disorders.

OBJECTIVES: Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE) are used for making return-to-work decisions, yet FCE's modest predictive ability is currently outweighed by the administrative burden of testing. We attempted to develop a short-form FCE while maintaining comparable predictive ability. METHODS: Three databases previously created for evaluating FCE predictive validity were used. Subjects were compensation claimants with low back disorders. FCE measures included items in the Isernhagen Work Systems' FCE. Days until benefit suspension served as an indicator of return-to-work. Analysis included Cox regression. RESULTS: Three items, floor-to-waist lift, crouching, and standing, were maintained in the short-form FCE. The short-form FCE was found to predict comparably to the entire FCE protocol in two validation cohorts (R (2) difference<3%). Subjects meeting job demands on all three items consistently experienced faster benefit suspension. CONCLUSION: A short-form FCE for determining future work status in claimants with low back disorders was developed. A substantially abbreviated FCE may offer an efficient alternative.

Canada↗
PubMed2001

[Evaluation of functional capacity].

A functional capacity evaluation (FCE) is a detailed examination and evaluation that objectively measures the individual's current level of safe functional abilities, primarily within the context of the demands of competitive employment. It measures the ability to perform functional or work-related tasks and predicts the potential to sustain these tasks over a defined time-frame. Measurements of function from an FCE are compared to the physical demands of a job or other functional activities, and are used to make return-to-work/activity decisions, disability determinations, or to generate a rehabilitation plan. Scientific evidence on validity and reliability is limited so far. An FCE is time-consuming and cannot be recommended as a routine evaluation.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

Evaluation of the driving ability in disabled persons: a practitioners' view.

PURPOSE AND METHODS: The purpose of this paper is to present, on the basis of four genuine cases from the Rehabilitation Research Unit of Oulu University, the theoretical frame in which evaluations of driving ability of disabled persons can be made. RESULTS: First, it is not the operations with the control devices but the correct mental actions which the driver carries out with the help of the control devices which are crucial for safe driving. Second, driving ability is only partly a biomedical object of research and one ought to avoid an excessive medicalisation of an evaluation of driving ability. Third, the driver meets traffic situations not by his or her separate biological or psychological functions, such as vision, attention, memory, thinking, motives, but as an integrated whole, as a personality. CONCLUSIONS: By its complexity an evaluation of driving ability can be compared to an evaluation of working capacity where often a multidisciplinary team is needed. When evaluating driving ability we have to take a step from low-level motor operations towards high-level mental actions, from the measurement of acuity of eyesight towards the testing of the flexibility of perception, from the diagnosis-based evaluation to the patient-based evaluation, from using the common pencil-paper tests towards the traffic-related task-specific tests and from the testing of separate single general non-driving-related factors towards an evaluation of the theoretically based driving performance as whole.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[Work capacity--a central category of practical social medicine].

Gainful employment-related performance capacity is a central but rarely considered category of practical social medicine. Its evaluation belongs to the workday routine of social physicians. Special difficulties arise if chronic pain disorders are to be evaluated, especially in chronic "nonspecific" cases, i.e. in the absence of biomedically relevant signs. Employment-related performance is conceptualised as a multidimensional construct with several latent variables. It integrates and extends the domains of "impairments" and "disabilities" of the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH) of WHO. Three basic dimensions are distinguished: one comprising biomedical, the other psychological, the third function-related variables. They are specified within a multidimensional model of employment-related performance. This includes different components of the perception and appraisal of pain, concomitant bodily complaints (e.g. vital exhaustion), psychological impairments as helplessness or anxiety, special facets of the pain behaviour, and functional limitations and allows an estimate of the chronification and prognosis of the pain problem. Some diagnostic measures are still inadequate in respect of established clinimetric standards. In particular, assessment of functional limitations requires further development and research.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2006

Does functional capacity evaluation predict recovery in workers' compensation claimants with upper extremity disorders?

OBJECTIVES: Functional capacity evaluations (FCEs) are commonly used to determine return-to-work readiness and guide decision making following work related injury, yet little is known of their validity. The authors examined performance on the Isernhagen Work Systems' FCE as a predictor of timely and sustained recovery in workers' compensation claimants with upper extremity disorders. A secondary objective was to determine whether FCE is more predictive in claimants with specific injuries (that is, fracture) as compared to less specific, pain mediated disorders (that is, myofascial pain). METHODS: The authors performed a longitudinal study of 336 claimants with upper extremity disorders undergoing FCE. FCE indicators were maximum performance during handgrip and lift testing, and the number of tasks where performance was rated below required job demands. Outcomes investigated were days receiving time-loss benefits (a surrogate of return to work or work readiness) in the year following FCE, days until claim closure, and future recurrence defined as whether benefits restarted, the claim reopened, or a new upper extremity claim was filed. Cox and logistic regression were used to determine the prognostic effect of FCE crudely and after controlling for potential confounders. Analysis was performed separately on claimants with specific and pain mediated disorders. RESULTS: Most subjects (95%) experienced time-loss benefit suspension within one year following FCE. The one year recurrence rate was 39%. Higher lifting performance was associated with faster benefit suspension and claim closure, but explained little variation in these outcomes (r2 = 1.2-11%). No FCE indicators were associated with future recurrence after controlling for confounders. Results were similar between specific injury and less specific groups. CONCLUSIONS: Better FCE performance was a weak predictor of faster benefit suspension, and was unrelated to sustained recovery. FCE was no more predictive in claimants with specific pathology and injury than in those with more ambiguous, pain mediated conditions.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1980

[Job analysis applied to the disabled (author's transl)].

Job analysis data are helpful in solving a wide range of rehabilitation and ergonomic problems. The ergonomic job analysis procedure for the disabled is based on a universal procedure, called AET (Arbeitswissenschaftliches Erhebungsverfahren zur Tätigkeitsanalyse). To this basic procedure a supplement for the analysis of jobs for the disabled has been developed. The idea of supplementing a basic job analysis procedure for special purposes enables us not only to compare (cluster analysis) basic data of a wide range of jobs but also to analyse groups of jobs in more detail. This paper describes structure and contents of the supplement for the disabled. Examples for application are given.

Disability Evaluation↗