One of the most interesting aspects of my work is assessing compensation claims and the process to do so is similar to other aspects of my clinical work.
I meet a patient, I take their history and I write a report. But what is interesting about compensation is it often comes under different parts of legislation. I am required to look at legislation and look at guidelines to assess the percentage of disability a worker may have if he or she is not able to return to work.
I have also had training and experience in using functional capacity evaluation assessments. These are tools that help me assess what patients can do and whether they are safe to return to work. They also help me quantify their disability.
An impairment assessment report helps the insurer, or the lawyer, or indeed the court, identify what proportion of a patient’s function they have lost in order to calculate their percentage disability.