Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines: Evaluation and Management of Common Health Problems and Functional Recovery in Workers, 2nd Edition, 2008 Revision

ACOEM’s Guidelines are the gold standard in effective treatment of occupational injuries and illnesses. They are intended to help improve or restore the health of those workers who incur occupationally related illnesses or injuries. ACOEM’s are the only evidence-based guidelines that focus on returning employees to work within 90 days of an injury or illness. (This is clinically appropriate, as data show that more than 90 percent of workplace injuries are resolved within this time period.) However, medical issues outside of the 90-day range are also addressed throughout the Guidelines.

The Guidelines were developed in response to rising expectations for quality of care; increased expectations for good outcomes and medical safety; the need to stop over utilization and to curb unproductive and even harmful procedures; and the need to reflect advances in medicine based on the best available evidence. The Guidelines – which were developed, tested, and refined in medical practice – present essential evidence-based information to address the injured worker’s functional impairment and safely return him or her to work. The treatment approach takes a comprehensive view that encompasses the medical, psychosocial, and functional outcomes of the injured worker. This approach enables the Guidelines to be an integral, seamless part of treatment planning and case-management systems. The Guidelines are an important tool for physicians and other health care providers, and all others with responsibility for or involvement in worker health and workers’ compensation systems.

The first edition of the Guidelines was published in 1997, and subsequently revised in 2004. The Guidelines are currently being updated on a 3-year rolling process. The chapter on elbow disorders was the first of these updates followed by the low back and chronic pain chapters. For more information on the revised elbow or low back chapters, follow the links provided.

The new Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines, 2nd Edition, 2008 Revision will be available in Summer 2008. Pre-publication orders are currently being accepted.
Price: $175.00 for ACOEM members; $199.00 for non-members [price does not include shipping]
ISBN 1-883595-42-8