Health practice and management
Health-care providers and health-care services play an important part in the return to work (RTW) of injured workers and in disability management processes at workers’ compensation boards in Canada. IWH research supports front-line health-care practitioners—including primary care physicians and allied health-care professionals, who support or treat workers with injuries and illnesses that affect their ability to work.
Featured
At Work article
How employers are improving RTW outcomes for public safety workers with PSTI
Public safety employers face a range of challenges when supporting workers to return to work after experiencing a post-traumatic stress injury. Employers have developed strategies to face these challenges, as outlined in a recent IWH Speaker Series presentation.
Published: March 12, 2025
At Work article
Employers face challenges in supporting public safety personnel with post-traumatic stress injuries
In Ontario, a pilot program has been developed to help treat public safety workers with post-traumatic stress injuries. To identify any needed changes to the program, IWH researchers asked employers about their experiences helping these workers return to work after a mental health injury.
Published: January 15, 2025
Journal article
Journal article
Assessing domain match and feasibility of candidate instruments matching with OMERACT endorsed domains to measure flare in knee and hip osteoarthritis
Published: Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, April 2024
Journal article
Journal article
OMERACT Core outcome measurement set for shared decision making in rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions: a scoping review to identify candidate instruments
Published: Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, April 2024
Journal article
Journal article
Increasing uptake through collaboration in the development of core outcome sets: lessons learned at OMERACT 2023
Published: Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, March 2024
Journal article
Journal article
Core outcome set developers should consider and specify the level of granularity of outcome domains
Published: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, February 2024
Research Highlights
Primary care physicians’ learning needs in returning ill or injured workers to work
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. These needs fall in the areas of completing administrative tasks, challenging personal beliefs, understanding specific RTW issues and learning about available RTW services and tools.
Published: July 2023
Project
Project
ECHO PSP: Piloting the use of the ECHO model to promote recovery and return-to-work among public safety personnel in Ontario
This pilot project is evaluating the use of the ECHO model in Ontario to improve return-to-work support for injured firefighters, paramedics, police officers and other public safety personnel.
Status: Ongoing
Project
Project
First Responder Mental Health Treatment Services: Formative evaluation of a pilot program
IWH is collaborating with the Institute for Better Health to evaluate a WSIB pilot program treating first responders with work-related mental health injuries.
Status: Ongoing
Journal article
Journal article
Primary care physicians' learning needs in returning ill or injured workers to work. A scoping review
Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, May 2022
Project
Project
Project ECHO Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM): Implementation, evaluation and a pilot study of a new clinical tool
IWH is piloting a telementoring program in which a multidisciplinary team of health-care experts uses video conferencing to connect with primary healthcare providers in remote Ontario communities to help them better manage patients with complex work-related injuries and diseases or environmental exposures.
Status: Ongoing
Research Highlights
Examining communication and collaboration barriers among health and case management professionals
Communication barriers between health-care providers and case managers appear to stem from differences in communication styles, professional priorities and philosophical perspectives about the timing and appropriateness of return to work. Barriers exist even among practitioners of different health disciplines.
Published: March 2020