April 7, 2006 Source: :
http://www.mcgill.ca/newswire/?ItemID=19595 McGill study: Whiplash program pays off Source: University Relations Office (URO) [newswire]
April 07, 2006
New protocol speeds healing and reduces costs A study headed by McGill University epidemiology professor Samy Suissa and commissioned by the Société d'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) says the province's new approach to whiplash cases has markedly improved outcomes for patients. "When patients who have suffered this traumatic neck injury are taken in charge early on, the new treatment protocol speeds up their healing and return to work, thereby reducing the medical and social costs associated with whiplash," explained Professor Suissa, who is also director of the clinical epidemiology division at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. The new protocol focuses on early intervention when treating whiplash patients by reducing the wait time to see a multidisciplinary team of doctors. The study clearly showed that the average duration of compensation for whiplash patients, which had been one year, has decreased to less than six months since the introduction of the new rapid intervention protocol. Of 288 whiplash patients in 26 centres that adopted the whiplash protocol, only 40 percent were still getting compensation after one year, compared with more than 50 percent of 1,875 patients treated in other facilities. Suissa's report, published recently in the Journal of Rheumatology, also notes that under the new management protocol the cost per patient was reduced by almost $1,000 (Canadian) per patient.
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Céline Poissant
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University Relations Office, McGill University
514-398-6751
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