1. Quality of Care for Work-Associated Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
- Author
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Nuckols T, Conlon C, Robbins M, Dworsky M, Lai J, Roth CP, Levitan B, Seabury S, Seelam R, and Asch SM
- Subjects
- Adult, California, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome diagnosis, Electrodiagnosis, Female, Health Care Surveys, Humans, Income, Male, Medical History Taking statistics & numerical data, Medical Overuse statistics & numerical data, Medical Records, Middle Aged, Occupational Diseases diagnosis, Practice Guidelines as Topic, Workers' Compensation, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome therapy, Guideline Adherence statistics & numerical data, Occupational Diseases therapy, Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care, Quality Indicators, Health Care
- 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.
- Published
- 2017
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