Disability Management

This final assignment will provide learners with a further opportunity to demonstrate and apply strategies to enhance the professional relationships frequently encountered in the Disability Management process in a simulated real-world setting.

Learners will:

·Use the provided case study/client scenario of “Alex”. The instructional team has recorded a mock telephone call between Alex, and Ann-Marie, the Case Manager at Atlantic Life, who is responsible for Alex’s case.

·Prepare and submit an individual debrief document as a structured way to relate the call back to the course learning objectives and to reference course content as appropriate. You are not to debrief the “performance” of Alex.

·Treat this as if you, the student, were carrying out the phone call and assessing your ability to simulate the work a case manager would do, using the outlined areas for debriefing discussion provided below.

oPlease refer to the Case Manager as a Case Manager (CM), or as Ann-Marie, do not write the assignment under the assumption that it was yourself.

oDo not debrief Alex’s contribution to the call.

CASE SCENARIO

The case scenario is a continuation of the Alex case scenario that was used for the midterm assignment. Learners will simulate the role of the disability case manager in the short-term disability department at Atlantic Life, a large national insurer. Summary: Alex is a 28-year-old Barista who has worked full-time in the same coffee shop for the previous four (4) years. Alex typically works 8-hour shifts with a 30-minute lunch break and 2×15 minute breaks. Alex sustained a FOOSH injury on September 1, 2020and has been absent from work since that time. Alex used banked sick time from work for the first two (2) weeks following the injury and was then approved for employer-provided short-term disability benefits. Alex has been recovering from an uncomplicated wrist fracture. Alex is monitored by the attending family physician, orthopaedic surgeon, physiotherapist and occupational therapist.

During your initial call with Alex, you advised of your role, the approval of short-term disability benefits as based on the provided file documentation (STD initial application, job information, and supporting medical documentation) and to discuss the next steps in the management of Alex’s absence and return-to-work.

Return to Work Call:

As part of the assignment, you have been given a simulated call between a case manager (Ann-Marie) and a client (Alex). This was recorded by the instructional team who carried out the call with areas of strength, and areas for improvement. Do not expect a perfect call, there are purposeful flaws.

For the purpose of this final assignment simulation, the disability case manager will be contacting Alex to review and confirm the proposed return-to-work date, plan, and supports as outlined in the provided documentation. Be reminded that the simulated claimant, Alex, has previously identified three areas of concern in addition to the medical diagnosis and treatment, including a reduction in pay to 66% of usual income; family member’s upcoming surgery; intrusive/frequent communication from the work supervisor.

Review the content of the call against the supporting information provided for the final assignment. When debriefing the call, you will not only be required to outline what the plus or delta was, but also discuss WHY the approach, strategy, etc. worked well for the case overall or the particular circumstances in the moment, and/or WHY it is important to discuss something that was not done well or missed (delta)–this is your analysis. Think about what benefit did it bring or could have brought? You are required to use citations to support your analysis.

DEBRIEFING GUIDELINES

In addition to providing an evaluation point, this final assignment simulation event provides a valuable learning experience. The final assignment also provides learners with a chance to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired to date in this course to simulated reality.

The debrief process allows learners to acknowledge strengths and identify opportunities for improvement. Debrief is a tool for critical reflection and improvement. The assumption is that each learner in this course cares about doing his/her best and wants to improve. The intent of this debrief is to provide a planned measure aiming to look back on the completed simulation event and to provide an opportunity to explicitly link the simulated learning experience back to the course learning objectives and program domains. (*ProgramDomains are the overall skills and competencies that students will be able to demonstrate upon completion of the Certificate in Disability Management Program).

For each of the seven(7) sections listed below, please analyze using the following guidelines (do not only or directly answer these questions, use them to guide a discussion):

·Plus: What went well? What would one do again next time?

·Delta: What would you do more of? What didn’t go well? What would you change?

Please provide a succinct review (not bullet points) for each of the 7areas below of your interview –it is anticipated you present a discussion, not just answers to the guided questions above.

As this is a formal assignment you are to have a title page, introduction, headings for each section (7sections noted below, DO NOT copy the areas of discussion and use as your headings as they may not be worded in an appropriate manner), conclusion and a separate page of references.

You should anticipate having at least 2 paragraphs (minimum of 1 for each the plus and the delta) for each of the 7 areas as you carry out your discussion. You are expected to reference against course material to support your plus/delta analysis, that is, advise why an approach was positive, or could have improved your call (e.g. is a best practice, or is an alternative that could have been attempted, etc.).

Please ensure you cite course resources that guided you in answering your plus/delta questions using proper APA formatting for citations and a reference section:

1.Opens client interaction

2. Confidentiality briefly reiterated/reviewed –reference mainly against module 2.

3.Use of communication strategies –to convey the message you need to provide (about the return to work plans) –reference mainly against module 1

4.Collaborativeapproaches

5.Exploration of biopsychosocial issues -reference mainly against module 6

6.Identify motivating factors influencing return-to-work –reference mainly against module 9

7.Closes client interaction

This is a formal assignment submission, please discuss your responses in a formal/academic tone. Simply pointing out what did or do not happen within the call or what parts were/were not done well, will not garner full marks without an explanation as to WHY it was successful (or not) and/or could have been improved upon, which must be accompanied by citations/references.