An evaluation of an integrated health management program for workers in hospital setting

The aims of this study were to evaluate the 1) processes and 2) outcomes of a workplace health management program that attempted to integrate best practice principles of both workplace health promotion and injury management into the existing health management infrastructure of a major metropolitan hospital to improve the health management practices of hospital workers. An escalation in workplace injuries and a surfeit of injured workers who lacked the functional capacity to return to work had resulted in a shortage of skilled workers in this acute surgical hospital. This provided the impetus for the organisation to review its approach to injury management. A research grant from the state’s workers compensation insurance authority facilitated a team of exercise physiologists to work with the hospital executive to develop workplace based strategies to reduce the incidence and impact of workplace injuries.