Return To Work On Monday?

It is a common scenario—it is Wednesday and the injured worker has a follow up with the treating physician. The injured worker is making good medical progress and the case manager anticipates he/she will be released to return to work at today’s office visit. The MD does release the injured worker to return to work without restrictions, however it is not for Thursday, but for the following Monday.

This is where the nurse case manager is able to im...pact the case and the client’s recovery. The question the nurse should pose is whether or not the return to work on Monday is for medical reasons. The nurse should ask if the medical condition is going to really change from the patient’s office visit on Wednesday. 

The next time a physician says “Monday”, ask him to consider “tomorrow” or perhaps the day after tomorrow. Another avenue to explore is starting the patient to work on Thursday so that he/she can have a short work week to condition for the following full work week. An alternative would be to suggest that the patient start to work on a less than full time basis for two days to facilitate the injured worker’s successful return to work.

Do you have other suggestions for this scenario?  Let us know!