Assessment of the factors affecting the loss of workforce in patients with traumatic hand injury.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the factors affecting the loss of workforce, including the time to return to work and work-related situations in patients with traumatic hand injury who were taken to a hand rehabilitation program. Materials and Methods: The patients aged between 18-65 years with a history of traumatic hand injury in the last five years were analyzed retrospectively. Demographic and clinic data were taken from the medical records, and work-related problems were obtained by telephone calls. The severity of hand injury was assessed with Modified Hand Injury Severity Score (MHISS). Results: A total of 147 patients (129 males, 18 females; mean age 39.83±10.4 years) were included. The duration of return to work was correlated with total MHISS (rho=0.262 p=0.003) while not related to age, education level, gender, or injured hand's dominance (p>0.05). Duration of return to work after hand injury and total MHISS were lower in the patients who had job modifications (p<0.001, p=0.002). Job modification rate, salary reduction, and patient-reported hand dexterity loss were higher in patients with work-related injuries (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study highlighted that the increasing severity of hand injury caused a prolonged time to return to work, or job scope changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]