# Generalizability of a Musculoskeletal Therapist Electronic Health Record for Modelling Outcomes to Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders

## TL;DR

This paper assesses whether a musculoskeletal therapist EHR dataset can be used to model outcomes of work-related injuries in the Australian workforce.

## Contribution

The study evaluates the generalizability of an EHR dataset for work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the Australian context.

## Key findings

- The EHR dataset is representative of the Australian workforce in terms of age, gender, and employment duration.
- The dataset includes unique variables like workplace culture and job demands relevant to modeling WMSD outcomes.
- Upper limb injuries were more prevalent in the EHR compared to workers’ compensation claims.

## Abstract

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) can contain vast amounts of clinical information that could be reused in modelling outcomes of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Determining the generalizability of an EHR dataset is an important step in determining the appropriateness of its reuse. The study aims to describe the EHR dataset used by occupational musculoskeletal therapists and determine whether the EHR dataset is generalizable to the Australian workers’ population and injury characteristics seen in workers’ compensation claims.

Variables were considered if they were associated with outcomes of WMSDs and variables data were available. Completeness and external validity assessment analysed frequency distributions, percentage of records and confidence intervals.

There were 48,434 patient care plans across 10 industries from 2014 to 2021. The EHR collects information related to clinical interventions, health and psychosocial factors, job demands, work accommodations as well as workplace culture, which have all been shown to be valuable variables in determining outcomes to WMSDs. Distributions of age, duration of employment, gender and region of birth were mostly similar to the Australian workforce. Upper limb WMSDs were higher in the EHR compared to workers’ compensation claims and diagnoses were similar.

The study shows the EHR has strong potential to be used for further research into WMSDs as it has a similar population to the Australian workforce, manufacturing industry and workers’ compensation claims. It contains many variables that may be relevant in modelling outcomes to WMSDs that are not typically available in existing datasets.