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Nuckols T, Conlon C, Robbins M, Dworsky M, Lai J, Roth CP, Levitan B, Seabury S, Seelam R, Asch SM. Quality of Care for Work-Associated Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine / American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2017 Jan 1; 59(1):47-53.
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.