Treatment burden and ability to work
Anna Trakoli
Abstract
Treatment burden can adversely affect patient functioning and wellbeing, including their ability work. Workers with multimorbidity, such as ageing, are disproportionately affected and their number is set to rise as the workforce ages. Complex treatment regimens and their sequalae can be a barrier to a successful return to work or even incompatible with work demands. Enlightened employers will seek to accommodate the burden of treatment by implementing reasonable adjustments. However, where the employer is unable or unwilling to accommodate such adjustments, the result may be loss of employment, with often devastating consequences to the worker's physical and emotional health and wellbeing. Collaborative action in three key settings: the healthcare system, the workplace and the state can help reduce barriers, thereby enabling working-age people with chronic health conditions or disabilities remain in, and benefit from, employment. EDUCATIONAL AIMS: To raise awareness on how treatment burden can adversely affect health, work and societal outcomes in working age people.To promote good practice in relation to managing treatment burden in healthcare and work settings, so that working age people with chronic health conditions or disabilities can remain in and benefit from work.