Supervisor Follow-up and Positive Work Environment Help Avoid a Disability Mindset

By Jamie LaPaglia, RN, CCM

Implementation Manager & Clinical Educator
ODG an MCG Health Company

We have all seen cases involving a “simple” back sprain claim that we don’t pay much attention to, only to find ourselves with the claim remaining open a few years later with no sign of the claimant ever returning to pre-injury functional level. What is the difference between this claim and a similar one that closed as expected? The “disability mindset.”

Injuries pull us out of our routine. Some people begin focusing on negative events or possibilities, develop anxiety, and lose contact with coworkers. As this continues, they develop a negative perception of the disability process; they may catastrophize about a cascade of successively worse outcomes.

The longer a routine is broken, the harder it is to get back into it. For some, this leads to the disability mindset in which the injury is no longer just an injury. It is the defining thing that makes the person who they are, taking on a life of its own.

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