At Brooks, our goal is to get our patients back to life outside of rehabilitation. We offer several services that are used to evaluate the ability of an individual in work settings.
Functional Capacity Evaluation
The Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) is a comprehensive test that provides detailed information about an individual's ability as it relates to daily functions. The evaluation offers insight into behavior,
 |
| The Goal is Return to Work |
motivation, sincerity of effort and pain tolerance. For ease of use, the FCE report includes a narrative report with objective descriptions, and a set of graphs and tables to help picture the areas of strength and weakness. The FCE is primarily used to establish physical ability levels for basic tasks as well as documenting progress if treatment has been ongoing. Performance is correlated to the diagnosis when available. Therefore obtaining an accurate diagnosis is important. Limitations are also correlated to the client's report of difficulty with various home tasks. Recommendations and restrictions are summarized on the cover letter based on the overall results.
Work Capacity Evaluation
We also offer a Work Capacity Evaluation (WCE) which is fundamentally the same as the FCE. However, the WCE requires that a job description be provided. With the job description, the evaluator is able to generate job simulation as part of the evaluation. This allows the evaluator to compare the individual's performance to the job requirements and generate more useful information and recommendations related to work tolerance.
The purpose of both of these evaluations is to identify functional improvement, physical demand levels and functional limitations, and then to establish safe parameters based on that data. With this information, re-entry to the community and work environments can be made more smoothly and safely.
Testing usually takes 3 hours. If additional skill testing is requested, testing time can be increased accordingly. Clients are encouraged to come prepared for physical activity. As such, clients should wear shorts or loose exercise pants and tennis shoes.
The FCE and the WCE are both part of Brooks’ extensive Industrial Rehabilitation (Worker's Compensation) program. To schedule one of these examinations, contact the central intake unit at (904) 858-7277 ext. 3.