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. 2017 Jan;59(1):47-53.
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000000916.

Quality of Care for Work-Associated Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Teryl Nuckols  1 , Craig Conlon, Michael Robbins, Michael Dworsky, Julie Lai, Carol P Roth, Barbara Levitan, Seth Seabury, Rachana Seelam, Steven M Asch
Affiliations

Quality of Care for Work-Associated Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Teryl Nuckols et al. J Occup Environ Med. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the quality of care provided to individuals with workers' compensation claims related to Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and identify patient characteristics associated with receiving better care.

Methods: We recruited subjects with new claims for CTS from 30 occupational clinics affiliated with Kaiser Permanente Northern California. We applied 45 process-oriented quality measures to 477 subjects' medical records, and performed multivariate logistic regression to identify patient characteristics associated with quality.

Results: Overall, 81.6% of care adhered to recommended standards. Certain tasks related to assessing and managing activity were underused. Patients with classic/probable Katz diagrams, positive electrodiagnostic tests, and higher incomes received better care. However, age, sex, and race/ethnicity were not associated with quality.

Conclusions: Care processes for work-associated CTS frequently adhered to quality measures. Clinical factors were more strongly associated with quality than demographic and socioeconomic ones.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential Conflicts of Interest:

The authors have no other potential conflicts of interest to report.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Enrollment of Study Subjects, Survey Responses, and Medical Record Review
Figure 2
Figure 2
Rate of Adherence to Quality Measures, by Aspect of Care and Individual Measure formula image Recommended Care formula image Overuse of Inappropriate Care formula image Underuse of Necessary Care
Figure 3
Figure 3
Patient Characteristics Associated with Adherence to Quality Measures
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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