Project

Remote and in-person — register research into service paths and trends in sickness absences in occupational health care among those with musculoskeletal symptoms

Occupational health services have broadened out to include remote services in addition to traditional surgery appointments. They are also being used ever more frequently in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. We are now looking into the use of both remote and in-person occupational health care services in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders and its effects on sickness absences, service paths, customer experience and service costs.

Naislääkäri juttelee asiakkaan kanssa videopuhelun välityksellä

Timetable

8/2025–2/2027

Objectives

The aim of the research is

To identify the different user groups for remote and in-person occupational health care services among those diagnosed with a musculoskeletal disorder and compare them in terms of their work ability development paths, work ability support measures and service costs.
To identify the service paths of those who have used a remote or in-person service alongside the professional who has delivered the service in different musculoskeletal disorder groups, and examine the connection between those service paths and sickness absences.
To discover how the customer feels about coping having received a remote or in-person service.

Data and methods

We will undertake register research in the form of a longitudinal survey. The research data will be taken from the patient register of two occupational health care service providers.

The data will contain the following:

information on the service events recorded in the patient registers
information on health check questionnaire systems
information on how customers feel about coping with their symptoms having received a service, and
Statistics Finland register data.

The research data will cover the period 6/2023-12/2025.

Results and impact

We will produce new data on the use of both remote and in-person occupational health care services in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Data will be obtained:

on remote and in-person service user groups.
on how trends in sickness absences, service paths and service costs differ among the user groups and the various disorders.

The research will also highlight the customer’s experience of coping after receiving a service and whether there are differences between remote and in-person services concerning how customers feel they are coping.

The results may be used in the development of appropriate and customer-oriented occupational health services. The research may also help in the allocation of professional resources and in planning division of labour.