What's new

A man speaks with a female doctor in scrubs who holds a clipboard
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IWH study finds workers are using cannabis to treat work-related conditions, mostly without medical guidance

One in seven workers with a work-related physical injury or illness said they used cannabis to treat the condition. That’s according to an IWH study based on interviews conducted with workers 18 to 36 months after their work-related illness or injury. Importantly, most of these workers had not received medical guidance on the therapeutic use of cannabis.

A group of physician's sitting in a room, prepared to take notes.
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What do physicians need to know to support patients’ RTW?

While primary care physicians play an important role in helping ill and injured workers return to work (RTW), they have a variety of learning needs about how to best navigate the RTW process. That’s according to an IWH study that found that physicians could benefit from additional training in four main areas: administrative tasks, personal beliefs about RTW, specific occupational health issues and available RTW services and tools.

A young male doctor engaging in an online discussion using his laptop
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Telementoring program helps care providers with challenging RTW cases

The first two rounds of the world’s first ECHO program on occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) have wrapped up, and preparation is underway for a third round this fall. We spoke to some of the health-care practitioners who attended the first two rounds to learn how ECHO OEM has helped with their most challenging return-to-work cases.

A doctor speaks to a patient, who's out of frame
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Now recruiting health-care providers for new ECHO OEM mentoring project  

A new Project ECHO program on occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) has been launched! This telementoring project, which includes a research component led by IWH, is designed to offer support and advice to Ontario health-care providers who have patients with work-related health conditions. The program is now recruiting primary care providers—including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and other allied health professionals. Sessions are held via videoconference each Friday from September 17 to December 3, 2021.

An out-of-frame doctor talks to someone on a laptop screen
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IWH set to launch telementoring project on occupational medicine for health professionals

Frontline health-care providers play an important role in helping people return to work following a work-related injury or illness. But family doctors and other frontline practitioners may lack familiarity with the workers’ compensation system and return-to-work processes. A new telementoring project is being launched in Ontario to address this skills gap. Project ECHO on Occupational and Environmental Medicine, to be hosted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), will launch in the fall. It will be the first such project on occupational medicine, using the innovative hub-and-spoke health-care mentoring model called ECHO—short for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes—that’s now used around the world.

Dr. Monique Gignac
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IWH’s Dr. Monique Gignac recognized for arthritis-related research service work

Congratulations to IWH Senior Scientist and Scientific Co-Director Dr. Monique Gignac. In early November, the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Professions (ARP) named her a recipient of one of its 2019 service awards. The ARP Addie Thomas award recognizes an association member who has been an active volunteer involved with local, regional, national and/or international arthritis-related activities. 

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Institute accepting applications for post-doctoral Mustard fellowships in work and health

New researchers with an expertise in social, behavioural, organizational, clinical and/or population health sciences are invited to apply for a post-doctoral Mustard Fellowship in Work & Health. The Institute is looking for recent PhD graduates with an interest in doing research related to one of its two overarching priorities: work as a determinant of health and health as a determinant of work. The deadline for applications is Friday, December 14, 2018.

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Identifying promising strategies for preventing misuse and abuse of opioids

Since the start of the opioid crisis in the late 1990s, communities across North America have tried many different strategies to curb the misuse and abuse of prescription opioids. In an open-access systematic review, an IWH team analyzes the effectiveness of the studied strategies, identifies the most promising ones, and points out unintended consequences. 

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Research impact: WHO rehabilitation guidelines build on IWH systematic reviews

In February 2017, the World Health Organization released its report Rehabilitation in health systems. Aimed primarily at low- and middle-income countries, the report sets out evidence-based recommendations to help government leaders and health policy-makers develop or extend rehabilitation services and deliver them equitably within existing health systems. Five of the nine recommendations contained in the report relied on the evidence synthesized by a research team from the Institute for Work & Health.

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IWH scientist awarded 2018-19 Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship

Institute for Work & Health Scientist Dr. Andrea Furlan is among 12 pain experts in the United States and Canada to win a 2018-19 Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship. The 12 winners will attend a four-day workshop in Washington, D.C. to learn skills to effectively communicate and advocate for the translation of scientific research and evidence-based best practices in pain care and management.