title: Disability management. Application of a nurse based model in a large corporation.
abstract: 1. Minimizing the impact of injury, disability, and disease on employees is important not only to enhance the employee's quality of life, but also to maintain worker performance. Key to the disability management plan is early, aggressive, and safe return to work programs, which minimize personal and corporate costs. 2. The challenge is to improve the delivery of various disability programs (including short term disability, long term disability, and workers' compensation), and minimize escalating costs. 3. Program development provides the foundation for a disability management system. Implementation is key to achieving success. To successfully market case management, the occupational health nurse must articulate the cost benefit, as well as other concepts behind case management. 4. Disability management can be operationally defined as an active process for minimizing the impact of an impairment (resulting from injury, illness, or disease) on the individual's capacity to participate competitively in the work environment.
authors.affiliation: Global Occupational Health Services, IBM Corporation, San Jose, CA, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boseman
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009785:Occupational Health Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D016730:Program Development; D014481:United States