June 2010 Archives

Zack Craft,  vice president of rehabilitation technology and complex care for Total Medical Solutions, encourages a standing feature integrated into a wheelchair base whenever possible for injured workers confined to a wheelchair. While these types of wheelchairs are more expensive on the front end, they provide for greatly improved mobility and enhanced wellness of the patient. Thus, they provide for much better outcomes over the life of the claim. 

Wheelchair Standing Defined.

Wheelchairs with built in standing features allow the patient to obtain a standing position without transferring from the wheelchair. Such wheelchairs incorporate a mechanical or electromechanical system manipulated with levers or controls that move the seat from horizontal to a vertical or anteriorly sloping position while maintaining verticality of the legrests and backrest, thus extending the hips and knee joints. A full vertical standing position is achieved directly from sitting, or through gradual angle changes from a laying position, or a combination of either of these positions. Most wheelchair standers allow for full or partial extension of the hip and knee joints, and full upright or partially tilted positions.

Benefits of standing include:

• Improved functional reach to enable participation in ADLs (Activities of Daily Living)
• Enhanced independence and productivity
• Vital organ capacity is greatly improved
• Reduced occurrence of urinary tract infections
• Bone mineral density loss reduced or eliminated
• Improved circulation; reduced swelling in extremeties
• Reduced abnormal muscle tone and spasticity
• Occurrence of pressure sores reduced
• Diminished occurrence of skeletal deformities
• Enhanced physiological well being

Additional benefits of standing wheelchairs include: reduced fatigue, ability for some male patients to use public urinals, a reduction in the need for attendant care, reduced transfers and reduced home modifications.

One of the chairs Zack recommends to patients is the Permobil C500 VS.

For more information on standing wheelchairs, or other assitive technology devices, please contact Total Medical Solutions.

Even if you don't really like soccer, you can't help but get caught up in all the hype of World Cup Soccer. It only comes around once every four years. This year, the games are being held in South Africa. If you've caught a glimpse of the games, you can't help but notice the really annoying sound that persists through the duration of the game. It is deafening even through the television speakers.

Vuvuzelas: FIFA sanctions signature South African horn

Well, the Niosh Science Blog recently posted an article called Vuvuzelas: What's the Buzz? discussing the potential hazards of the noisemakers in question. They are called vuvuzelas. The vuvuzela is a plastic, meter-long South African horn and it has been sanctioned by FIFA as part of the "signature South African World Cup" games.

South African Medical Journal Study Says: Too Loud!

The article mentions a study published in the South African Medical Journal that found that the noise output created by the vuvuzela, an average of 131 decibels, is dangerously high. The maximum peak level can reach as high as 144 decibels. By comparison, a jet engine at takeoff measures between 130 and 140 decibels. Wow. That's loud! The study also found significant changes to participants hearing and cochlear responsiveness after being exposed to such high levels of noise. Thus, the results of the study led researchers to recommend hearing protection for football match spectators.

Fans go crazy for World Cup Soccer and consider themselves extremely lucky to be able to attend a game. But what about the players, event workers, broadcasters and referees who are repeatedly exposed to such high levels of noise? Let's hope they are wearing ear plugs.

Ban the Horns?

The study and Niosh warn that hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) are potential hazards due to such exposure and can significantly interfere with communication and quality of life. Some soccer teams are calling for a ban of the horns. However, vuvuzelas continue to be allowed at the games and pose major hearing hazards to anyone exposed to the obnoxious noise.

Want to catch the buzz? Go get some ear plugs and visit ESPN shows live streaming videos of World Cup Soccer.

In SafeteyNewsAlert's post Pot-smoking worker mauled by grizzly,  we learn of a worker at a Montanna bear park who was mauled by a grizzly bear as he attempted to feed the bears. The problem is, he treated himself to some pot smoking before starting his day at work.

When Brock Hopkins filed a workers' comp claim for his severe injuries, his claim was initially denied. Montanna law states that "An employee is not eligible for benefits otherwise payable under this chapter if the employee's use of alcohol or drugs not prescribed by a physician is the major contributing cause of the accident."

Hopkins appealed the decision and ultimately won workers' comp benefits for the injuries he sustained. The judge on the case ruled that although evidence was presented that showed he was impaired, due to smoking pot, it did not mean that his impairment was the major contributing cause of the attack.

Would you consider impairing your judgement before interacting with grizzly bears? As usual, the posted comments are very entertaining.

Today's post is about how the simplest of changes can make a big difference. When you're talking about a person who has been injured on the job, sometimes simple changes can greatly improve or diminish a person's quality of life. We live in a fast-paced world with ever-increasing pressure to do things faster and cheaper. If you are involved in the management of workers' compensation claims, you know this to be true. No matter what your role in workers' compensation, whether your are a physician, a nurse case manager, an adjuster, or a manager for a large company, you know that every day there is increasing emphasis to do more with less, be more efficient, and keep costs low. 

Streamlining saves money, or does it?

Because of this constant pressure to do things faster and cheaper, we streamline. Streamlining is good, right? Streamlining allows us to get more done and it saves money. But what are the real cost savings? You may save a buck today, but what other costs may be lurking down the road? By streamlining, we don't always get to see the big picture, and it becomes easier to miss the obvious facts that are right in front of us...

Claimant confined to wheelchair, can't access his home.

This story is about an injured worker who, due to his work-related injury, is confined to a wheelchair. He lives in a small trailer. The manual wheelchair he had been prescribed did not allow him to access his kitchen, bedroom or bathroom. He wasn't even able to use the ramp to his home because his wheelchair was too wide. Can you imagine how frustrating this must have been for the claimant?

Total Medical Solutions asked to perform home evaluation.

Total Medical Solutions was asked to do a home evaluation on this case. So, a rehab technician from Total Medical Solutions visited the claimant. Upon observing the claimant in his home, the rehab technician recommended a narrower, light-weight wheelchair. Somehow this detail was missed when the initial wheelchair was prescribed. Could it have been because no one bothered to visit the claimant in his home before ordering the wheelchair? Whatever the reason, obvious facts were overlooked. Decisions were made that negatively impacted this claimant's quality of life.

Two eyes are better than none, when it comes to managing complex claims that is.

So, what is the moral of this story? We all have to streamline in order to perform our jobs. However, considering all the technology we use, along with clinical protocols and databases of information we access to make decisions faster and cheaper, sometimes a pair of eyes is the best thing for the job; or in this case, for the claimant.

As you look to streamline your work flow, partner with vendors who are experienced in workers' compensation. When you partner with the right vendors, streamlining is a very good thing. The right vendor partners will help you save money now and in the future. How? they'll help you manage your claims the right way, the first time around.

There is a video circulating the web of Steven L. Newman, CEO of Transocean, performing a dance in Mubai, India, reportedly to celebrate the improved safety record of Transocean's India Division. Who's Transocean? They owned the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and unleashing the environmental disaster we now see growing bigger every day on the news. The Newman Safety Dance is posted on the company's online magazine called Beacon.

Comp Time posted about it last week in their post Transocean's Bollywood Safety Dance and it is also seen on SafetyNewsAlert.com in Do videos shine light on oil drilling company's safety culture? Safety News Alert's post digs a little deeper into the issue that OSHA is currently exploring. They are investigating how far companies will go to provide incentives to employees to hide or cover up injuries or problems in order to improve their safety records. As Fred Hosier reported in his post, OSHA assistant secretary Dr. David Michaels would prefer to see a focus on reducing hazards, not a decline in injuries. Listen to a webcast with Dr. Michaels called "What to do About Safety Incentives."

Perhaps Transocean's CEO should spend less time dancing and more time considering whether or not the company is doing enough to protect workers from injury or death. Do you also wonder what he's doing to prevent or avoid disasters like the one we are witnessing right now?