Contact to a Physician Specialized in Social Medicine and Return to Work

January 3, 2017 updated by: Kirsten Fonager

Contact to a Physician Specialized in Social Medicine and the Impact on Return to Workforce in Patients Suspected of Disc Herniation? - a Randomized Controlled Trial

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a rehabilitation program including a physician specialized in social medicine parallel to treatment for suspected spinal disc herniation.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In a two-year time period (2011 to 2012) 443 patients of suspected of disc herniation and risk of low work ability - based on questionnaires participated in a randomized control trial. The patients were randomized to either the intervention group (n=220) or control group (n=223). The intervention group were invited to the Department of Social Medicine two to four weeks after their first contact to Department of Rheumatology for a consultation with a physician specialized in social medicine. Together with the patient a return-to-work (RTW) schedule was made to ascertain the need for contact to the workplace (to adjust work functions), municipality, general practitioner or short-term supportive consultations with a psychologist. Throughout the intervention, the patients received their usual treatment from the Department of Rheumatology like patients from the control group. Outcome was return to the work force at one year follow up using information from a national registry.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

443

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 59 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age ≥ 18 and < 60 years old,
  • not receiving disability pension and not on maternity leave.
  • sick leave over the past year for more than ten days
  • low self-rated work ability for the next two years
  • health anxiety

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Intervention
Consultation with a physician specialized in social medicine. The consultation lasted about one hour. Together with the patient a return-to-work (RTW) schedule was made to ascertain the need for contact to the workplace (to adjust work functions), municipality, general practitioner or short-term supportive consultations with a psychologist. If relevant, patients were offered up till 5 sessions with a psychologist.
No Intervention: Control
Standard treatment from the Department of Rheumatology

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Return to Work (register based information)
Time Frame: one year
one year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 6, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 3, 2017

First Posted (Estimate)

January 5, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 5, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 3, 2017

Last Verified

January 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Reuma-2011

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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