Table 3 The physician's assessment of how problematic they experienced different sickness-certification tasks to be (%).
How problematic do you generally find it to... | Very % | Fairly % | Somewhat % | Not at all% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
...handle sickness-certification of patients? | 6.8 | 33.1 | 43.2 | 17.0 |
...assess whether a patient's functional capacity is reduced? | 14.6 | 33.7 | 37.3 | 14.4 |
...assess whether the reduced functional capacity is due to disease or injury? | 10.0 | 28.3 | 41.5 | 20.1 |
...assess the degree to which the reduced functional capacity limits a patient's work capacity? | 22.6 | 37.3 | 30.8 | 9.3 |
...provide a long-term prognosis about the future work capacity of sick-listed patients? | 22.3 | 36.1 | 28.2 | 13.4 |
...assess the optimum duration and degree of sickness absence? | 16.2 | 36.7 | 36.1 | 11.0 |
...suggest a plan of action and/or measures to be taken during the sick leave? | 8.9 | 26.0 | 37.4 | 27.7 |
...decide whether to certify a prolongation of a sick- leave period initially certified by another physician? | 17.8 | 34.5 | 32.7 | 15.0 |
...manage your dual role of being a doctor for your patients and a medical expert for the Social Insurance Office and other authorities? | 16.3 | 28.4 | 32.5 | 22.9 |
...discuss possible changes in lifestyle and life circumstances with a patient who is being issued a sickness certificate? | 8.0 | 29.4 | 38.8 | 23.8 |
...discuss and know how to deal with other psychosocial problems (e.g. economic difficulties or physical or substance abuse) when managing a patient on sick leave? | 12.0 | 28.5 | 36.1 | 23.4 |
...manage situations in which you and a patient have different opinions about the need for sickness absence? | 15.6 | 30.7 | 37.4 | 16.3 |
...discuss with the patient the advantages and disadvantages of being on sick leave? | 4.7 | 23.3 | 44.9 | 27.0 |
...issue sickness certificates for the social insurance officers? | 10.8 | 26.4 | 38.5 | 24.4 |
...provide the SIO with other types of certificates? | 16.6 | 33.3 | 31.9 | 18.2 |
...know what aspects of the sickness-certification process that is to be documented in the patient's chart? | 4.3 | 14.9 | 37.6 | 43.2 |
...handle situations in which you and other members of the healthcare team have different opinions about sickness-certification of a patient? (Not applicable for 44.7%) | 2.7 | 9.2 | 23.9 | 19.6 |