Learn functional capacity evaluation best practices and get helpful tools and resources.
Functional Capacity Evaluation 101
What is a Functional Capacity Evaluation?
“A functional capacity evaluation (FCE) evaluates an individual’s capacity to perform work activities related to his or her participation in employment (Soer et al., 2008). The FCE process compares the individual’s health status, and body functions and structures to the demands of the job and the work environment. In essence, an FCE’s primary purpose is to evaluate a person’s ability to participate in work, although other instrumental activities of daily living that support work performance may also be evaluated.”
The Six “Ws” of Functional Capacity Evaluations
“Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) is a method by which Physical and Occupational Therapists may assess fo abilities and limitations while also assessing for behavioral obstacles that may be interfering with return to normal activity.”
The Mattheson Functional Capacity Evaluation Method
“As thinking evaluators, we view each evaluation as unique— each client has a unique diagnosis and a unique set of referral questions. Using the practice hierarchy of safety, reliability, validity, practicality, and utility, we strive to answer the referral source’s questions and measure the injured worker’s potential for return to work while gauging his or her level of safe effort. We do not attempt to “trap” an evaluee who demonstrates inconsistent effort.”
Functional Capacity Evaluation PowerPoint Presentation
This PowerPoint slide deck from Select Physical Therapy provides a great (and well cited) overview of FCEs. It also
Know the Two Types of Functional Capacity Evaluations
“There are two types of FCE, the Job Specific FCE and tehe General Purpose FCE. THe Job Specific FCE measures the employees ability to perform the task and the physical demands of a specific job. The Job Specific FCE will determine if the employee can safely do his/her prior job or if modifications of the required work are needed.
The General Purpose FCE is normally used when there is no longer a job for the employee to return to or when the job functions have not been determined. The results of the General Purpose FCE can be used to evaluate the employees ability to perform specific jobs that may come available to the employee.”
Functional Capacity Evaluation in Worker’s Compensation
“The AMA Guide to the Evaluation of Functional Ability (2009) notes that functional testing is more objective than the current use of restrictions estimated by physicians. The Guide also notes that the quality of a FCE is in large part dependent on the qualifications, skill, experience, and training of the FCE examiner.”
Functional Capacity Evaluation Equipment
List of Functional Capacity Evaluation Tools
Get a list of all the functional capacity evaluation tools you’ll need to conduct an FCE.
Functional Capacity Evaluation Accessories
This is a good resource for additional tools and accessories to complete your FCEs.
A Functional Capacity Evaluation Example Report
Functional Capacity Evaluation — Example Report
Wondering what an FCE report looks like? Here’s an example for you.
Functional Capacity Evaluation Research
Functional Capacity Evaluation Research Review
“Summary: This has been a review of functional capacity evaluation as it is used in rehabilitation, with a focus on its use in the determination of work disability. A new model of work disability has been presented and a taxonomic structure of functional assessment constructs has been introduced and briefly described. The taxonomy was used to organize several hundred functional assessment measures into a database that was tapped to provide representative instruments that are used to measure constructs in two areas, hand use, and manual material handling. The chapter concludes with predictions of likely improvements in FCE that will be developed through the application of the new taxonomic method.”
Functional Capacity Evaluation and Disability
“In order for us to assess function, ideally we would like an instrument that can reliably measure the functional physical ability of a person to perform a work-related series of tasks. Terms used to judge reliability include intra-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, and inter-rater reliability. Additionally, an FCE instrument should be valid. A valid instrument should measure what it intends. Face validity implies that the test appears to measure what it intends to measure and is plausible. Content validity implies the test seems related to the construct which it is intended to measure. Concurrent validity, or criterion-related validity, implies the test is well correlated with an established “gold standard.” Although we would ideally like all tests to be measured against such a “gold standard,” much of medicine cannot be measured as such. The function of an individual is definitely not something that has a universal “gold standard.” Construct or convergent validity implies that the test is well correlated with a theoretical expectation, something researchers should be able to elucidate.”
WorkWell System’s FCE Research Compendium
This compendium of research from WorkWell highlights the summaries of 27 functional capacity evaluation research studies.
WorkSteps Published Research on FCE’s
This resource page from WorkSteps offers five functional capacity research studies that were published in “Work, a Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation.”
Reliability of Safe Maximum Lifting Determinations of a Functional Capacity Evaluation
“Conclusion: Interrater reliability of kinesiophysical lifting and carrying determinations as conducted by experienced raters on a sample of workers’ compensation claimants with low back injuries was excellent. Test-retest reliability, although lower, was generally good in subjects who completed testing. A subgroup of subjects was unwilling to participate on the second day of maximal testing due to a reported increase in symptoms unrelated to FCE testing. Assessment of manual handling over more than one occasion, therefore, is recommended to capture variability in function between occasions.”
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