see also:

• trauma
• EPI Journal - P.Cameron 2016
  • type of injury and severity of injury has less to do with the final outcome than other factors such as age, sex, socioeconomic circumstance, family support, and work status
  • supposedly “moderate” degrees of injury such as a lower limb fracture could take years to recover from
  • when patients think they were a victim and someone else was at fault, they did badly compared to those who thought it was caused by their own carelessness or stupidity
  • the promise of compensation was found to delay recovery, and even worse in a scenario where there was protracted delay in settlement due to legal feuds
    • in particular, low income or unemployed people have little incentive to return to work when they are paid for not working
    • this effect seems to go beyond malingering, and may possibly be correlated with real physical differences in degree of recovery
  • perhaps part of the ED doctor's role involves putting the patient on a pathway to optimal recovery, and setting expectations around attitude, peer support and appropriate coaching.