Dear WorkAbility Examiner,
We just published a number of new templates and updates to WorkAbility Systems REFERENCE materials that can be accessed from the Reference tab after sign in to ExamFIT.
Make sure that you download the most recent intake forms before you proceed with new exams.
Some highlights of recent changes include:
The intake forms for WorkAbility FCE have been updated with a main change to substitute a new Lifestyle Physical Function Screen that uses standardized questions from the PROMIS 2.0 inventory.
The intake forms for the WorkAbility Fitness Screens have been updated.
There are a number of updates to the Reference List and Definitions pages for the reports for Comprehensive and Disability FCE templates. For example, we adopted the BLS definition for SELDOM that reflects less than 10 minutes of exposure during the work shift. We added a new Work Tolerance Factor for Keyboarding stamina and made a few other changes to the worker-job match factors on the summary page based on consideration of recent improvements to the
BLS Occupational Requirements Survey Collection Manual
for functional job analysis and related
data forms
.
Updated a number of test protocols. Check out the revised protocol for the modified Chester Step Test in particular: Instead of five (5) two-minute stages of stepping rate progressions (60, 80, 100, 120, 140 bpm), there are now ten (10) one-minute stages of stepping rate progression (50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140). This is a more gradual progression to identify the highest acceptable workload for more impaired patients.
The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) is the instrument that is being used the Bureau of Labor Statistics to update the demands of occupations since the Dictionary of Occupational Titles was abandoned in 1991. Last Fall, I was invited to present about the assessment of physical residual capacity to the members of the National Academy of Sciences committee and Social Security Office of Disability.
