The Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Nurses Return to Work in Hospitals Project has been busy. It's just launched the final report and extensive best practice materials emerging from a three-year project aimed at:

• Identifying barriers and factors for successful return to work;
• Exploring early intervention techniques and safe, meaningful, durable return to work duties; and
• Supporting unemployed nurses with a holistic approach to rehabilitation.

What the project set out to achieve was no mean feat. Julia Suban, project officer and former return to work coordinator, said part of what fuelled the mammoth task was the recognition of a lack of information on return to work for nurses, despite the fact that in 2000-2007 there were just over 8000 injuries in Victoria.

“We really wanted to establish a dialogue with the people who were affected by return to work and those who were working in return to work, and then we wanted to work on addressing the gaps in those dialogues,” Ms Suban said.

One of the major problems among injured nurses unveiled by the project was the feeling that nurses weren’t being sufficiently assisted to return to work and remain in the nursing profession after an injury.

Interestingly, employers also advised that they felt the system did not support them in identifying opportunities within nursing in their organisation, to help them help injured nurses return to nursing in their pre-injury role.

“We adopted a balanced approach in developing the material as we wanted to ensure they were to the benefit of both the injured nurses and their employer; we wanted the material to be practicable and usable,” said Ms Suban. “Let’s face it – we want this material to be utilised.”

The following information was launched at the Project’s conference, Return to Work – Let’s Talk about it:

1. Eight research reports
2. Rehabilitation Model of Care for Injured and/or Ill Nurses in Victoria.
3. Guidance on Return to Work Duties
4. Brochure entitled, “Injured at work? Advice for Injured and/or Ill Nurses”
5. Training material for NUMS/ANUMS and Nurses in rehabilitation and return to work
6. Training material for RTW Coordinators (an extension of the current training provided to RTW Coordinators)
7. Internal vocational rehabilitation sample policy and procedures, and assessment report
8. Guidance material for Medical Practitioners on their role in rehabilitation and RTW
9. Guide to Nursing Roles and Employment Opportunities, “It’s my career: I’m taking charge”

Feedback drawn from the Project’s conferences has been overwhelmingly positive.

Interesting, common themes to arise from the feedback are “hope” and “change”. The new material, it was perceived, would give injured nurses hope about returning to the nursing profession, and change the way injured nurses and employers think about rehabilitation and return to work.

Much of the materials’ focus is on responsibilities: those of the injured nurse and the employer in a return to work scenario.

“I can tell you that there are people who work as RTW coordinators who are not telling injured workers or nurses their responsibilities in RTW until there’s a problem – and that’s a problem. That’s one of the things we wanted to address,” said Ms Suban.

She said that injured nurses needed to be advised of their roles and responsibilities in return to work and that a starting point for employers is to provide an overview of the workers’ compensation process, which helps in creating a relationship of trust.

“There’s a reluctance to talk, to educate injured nurses on workers compensation, to tell people what they’re entitled to. A RTW Coordinator might send a form out in the mail, but not physically talk to the injured worker. I think most people appreciate it if you actually take that time to go through the processes with them. Because, really, it’s all about relationships and relationship management, and as a RTW coordinator that’s your role – to facilitate that open dialogue and work together.”

“We have to change the stigma around not wanting to tell people their entitlements in case that will make them want to claim it. You have to let people know about their entitlements. If you communicate to people what they’re entitled to most people are only going to access what they need and not abuse those entitlements,” said Ms Suban.

“In working in return to work, be transparent, be open and honest, and communicate with people,” she recommended. “I know when I did this job [return to work coordinator] I did those sort of things. I never focused on the money and I managed to reduce our costs per year by a considerable amount of money.”

“When we focus on the financials we forget about the injured person – we’re taking the focus away from them, and it shouldn’t be like that. We should be providing the support mechanisms to assist the injured worker instead.”

“This is the starting point of change,” said Ms Suban. “We hope in the rehabilitation and return to work of injured nurses, the materials developed by the Project lay the foundations for this change.”