302 - Injured Worker and Clinician Cognitive Bias: Doing the Same Thing over and Over, Expecting a Different Result

Common misconceptions that result from cognitive bias (e.g., anchoring) and underappreciated somatization of distress drive medical and disability costs, justify low value medical treatments, and negatively impact outcomes for injured workers. In this session, we will discuss elements of a more efficient and effective strategy for medically managing injury cases from the perspectives of an occupational medicine physician and an orthopedic surgeon. For example, these elements include prompt, accurate diagnosis, an analysis of causation and extent of injury, avoidance of overutilization of imaging and physical therapy, and addressing disproportionate intensity and duration of symptoms, with attention to the mental health of injured worker.