Onsetting an occupational rehabilitation service at the federal university of Minas Gerais

Abstract

In order to implement policies to promote health in the workplace, the Federal University of the State of Minas Gerais (UFMG) created in 1999 the Worker Health Attention Service (SAST). Among other activities, SAST runs a professional rehabilitation program to assist partially disabled workers,
having attended 78 workers between June 1999 and December 2001, of
which 65 were considered able to work and 13 were retired. This study
assesses the results of the program and dresses a profile of the workers,
drawing on questionnaires and protocols applied to!51 of them. Among
those who got back to work, most regained the same job at the same place as before, but 71 % faced some task restriction. For the workers who had to retire after rehabilitation, the most common clinical diagnosis was disorder of the osteomuscular system and of the conjunctive tissue; 34% of them performed administrative services. These results have allowed for fruitful thinking on the role of the various subjects involved in the rehabilitation of the partially disabled worker. The possibility of discussing the rehabilitation process from the point of view of the various approaches in the multiprofessional team involved in SAST has contributed to the development of the professional rehabilitation policy within the University.