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Announcements and Message
Board
If you would like to submit an announcement
or request a consultation from a colleague you may submit it here
or email your AOOP colleague directly from the "Our Members" page using
their email address.
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Recent OOP publications:
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Williams C. Donald. Disability and Occupational
Assessment:
Objective Diagnosis and Quantitative Impairment Rating.
Harvard Review of Psychiatry 2010; 18: 336–352.
Industrial insurance originated in Europe in the 19th
century, and replaced the old system of negligence
liability in the United States between 1910 and 1940.
Today psychiatric disability assessments are performed
by psychiatrists in the context of social security
disability applications, workers’ compensation claims,
private disability insurance claims management, and
fitness for duty evaluations. There is a need for
expertise in the performance of psychiatric disability
evaluations but general psychiatric residency programs
provide experience with only treatment evaluations which
differ fundamentally from independent medical
evaluations (IME’s) as to role boundaries and assessment
focus. Psychiatrists offer opinions regarding
psychiatric impairments, but the determination of
disability is an administrative or judicial decision
made administratively or by judicial tribunals. The
distinction between diagnoses which are
categorical and impairment ratings which are
dimensional is discussed. Social Security
Disability Evaluations (SSDI) and workers’ compensations
evaluations are discussed. Inconsistency in impairment
ratings has been problematic in the U.S. and elsewhere
in the workers’ compensation arena. A protocol for more
achieving more consistent impairment ratings is proposed
correlating 3 commonly used global rating scales in a
3X5 grid, supplemented by objective psychological test
data.
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The April 2008 Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine is titled "Special Issue:
Depression in the Workplace." Two
AOOP members contributed articles. If you would like
a reprint, please contact Dr. Couser or Dr. Williams. You
may contact the authors directly for reprints, or access
reprints on the internet through your university library
affiliation.
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"Challenges and
Opportunities for Preventing Depression in the
Workplace: A Review of the Evidence Supporting Workplace
Factors and Interventions" by Gregory P. Couser
MD MPH reviews the current state of preventive
measures for workplace depression and suggests numerous
avenues for improving individual, organizational, and
societal outcomes through depression prevention. (Couser
G. "Challenges and Opportunities for Preventing
Depression in the Workplace: A Review of the Evidence
Supporting Workplace Factors and Interventions." J
Occup Environ Med. 2008:50:411-427).
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"Assessment of
Occupational Impairment and Disability from Depression"
by C. Donald Williams MD and Ron Schouten MD JD
examines the relationship of impairment and
disability in the occupational context, proposes
strategies for indentifying the level of impairment
present and assessing its impact on employment,
discusses selection and titration of treatment to
severity of the condition and patient characteristics,
and recommends practices that minimize the occurrence
and effects of role and boundary confusion. (Williams
CD and Schouten R. "Assessment of Occupational
Impairment and Disability from Depression." J Occup
Environ Med. 2008;50:441-450).
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The November 2007 Psychiatric Annals was
devoted to Occupational and Organizational Psychiatry. Jeffrey Kahn MD ("Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry:
Overview and Examples"), Julia Reade MD ("Impaired
Physicians: Role of the Occupational Psychiatrist"), Ron Schouten JD
MD ("Workshop Violence: An Overview for Practicing Physicians"), and C Donald Williams
MD CGP ("Psychiatric Disability Assessments") contributed individually. You may contact the authors for
reprints, or access reprints on the internet through your university
affiliation.
Would you like consultation from
a colleague? Post your question to the message board – have
responses sent directly to you.
Requirements for the message
board: AOOP will review all postings and reserves the right to review
responses for consistency with the mission and purpose of AOOP.
Are you a potential employer? Do
you have an internship you want posted? You can post your position on
this site – for only $20.00 per month. Please send an e-mail to
cdonald@aol.com to get information on where to send payment.
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