Industrial engineering was originally founded as a discipline that focused on the study and design of work. Yet, today the field has largely distanced itself from this early concern. This paper tracks the decline of work studies in industrial engineering and explores the question of why the discipline lost its concern for work and, ultimately, its ability to speak to the kinds of social and eco...

A time to refocus I suspect that many rheumatologists in the UK are unaware that the origins of our speciality were closely bound up with government schemes to improve employment opportunities. The Second World War left behind injured servicemen and women and civilians; repairing both physical and mental damage was a priority. Large numbers of injured and unemployed workers needed assistance at...

One hundred patients who underwent heart valve replacement during the years 1977 to 1985 were reviewed an average of 57 months after surgery. The overall rate of reemployment after the operation was 78%. The most important factors influencing the return to work were the employment status before surgery, age at the time of surgery, the number and site of the diseased valve, the preoperative New ...

Individuals with severely disabling mental illness receive more benefit from supported employment initiatives than from other vocational services, but these initiatives show variable job tenure and low implementation by governments. For those with less severely disabling mental illnesses, such as depression, evidence-based treatment results in substantial restoration of job function, and restor...

Due to improving treatment options, the number of so-called long-term cancer survivors is steadily increasing. Current studies assume that more than 60% of adults survive their cancer. These patients have a variety of problems (chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, fatigue, etc.) that require very special care. In addition to somatic and psychological side effects of the cancer or its treatment, the...

The period of inability to work after acute myocardial infarction was examined in follow-up studies. Without organized rehabilitation, 7.5% of patients past myocardial infarction returned to work after 6 months. After early mobilization in the hospital and intensive follow-up treatment in a rehabilitation center, 18% of the patients returned to work within 6 months. After the establishment of c...