The Occupational Medicine Toolkit for Psychological Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations

TRACK: OEM Clinical Practice

Michael Coupland, Rpsych, CRC, IMCS Group, Inc., West Palm Beach, FL
Michael J. Levine, MD, MPH, FACOEM, Private Practice, Williamsburg, VA

This session will be taught by a practicing occupational physician and a psychologist who is contracted to provide fitness-for-duty for many employers. The presentation will describe the process of psychological fitness-for-duty evaluation in detail and provide tools for the occupational medicine physician to use to assist in identifying and referring employees with ‘red flags’ and ‘yellow flags.’ Reasons for evaluation, selection of evaluators, and identification and communication with stakeholders in the evaluation will be reviewed. Methods of evaluation are described. Concepts will be illustrated with a selection of case studies. The Toolkit will include the following public domain ‘tools’ for use within an occupational medicine setting: clinical history and Interview question templates; mental status questions and test template; neurobehavioral symptom questionnaire; referral letter templates; and release of Information templates.