Returning to Work after Burn Injury: From Research to Vocational Rehabilitation Practice

About the Webcast

The Center on KTDRR is collaborating with the American Institutes for Research to support webcasts and a Community of Practice that examine issues and challenges around evidence-based practice and vocational rehabilitation (VR). This is the fifth in a series of webcasts that examine the links between VR research and practice. We will have a dialogue with a researcher, a VR agency director, and a VR counselor to discuss how research about employment after burn injury can support VR practice, and how practice guidelines can be useful in supporting VR practitioners in working with clients with burn injuries. The presenters will examine the research and its evidence base, key issues to consider for returning to work after burn injury, and some VR practices for this population.

The webcast follows the thread of the relationship between research and practice as it relates to the supporting the return to work of individuals with burn injury. The webcast organizers do not mean to endorse specific interventions as an appropriate approach for VR, but rather to explore how research has been conducted and applied, through training, to inform VR practices.

Related resources on Employment After Burn Injury from Model Systems KT Center:

View the Archive:

  1. This webcast originally aired via YouTube on March 11, 2015. You do not need a YouTube account to view the video:
    http://youtu.be/_mnm3Y2FpbQ

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  2. Edited Transcript of the presentation (MS Word™ DOCX)
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About the Presenters

Photo of Nicole S. Gibran, MD, FACS

Nicole S. Gibran, MD, FACS, is Professor of Surgery and Medical Director of the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center at Harborview Medical Center and a past president of the American Burn Association. Dr. Gibran has led or been involved in multiple randomized controlled clinical trials and NIH/NIGMS-funded translational and basic science research studies. She has demonstrated her familiarity with the current burn and wound healing literature and research methodology through 24 years of direct care for people with burn injuries as well as her ongoing research in the response to injury. In addition, Dr. Gibran has maintained an acute interest in patient functional and psychological recovery throughout her career and co-authored several NIDILRR-credited publications and serves as the director of the NIDILRR-funded Northwest Regional Burn Model System that developed a website on Return to Work after Burn Injury.

Photo of Greg Trapp, JD

Greg Trapp, JD, is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind. He served as a Senior Staff Attorney for Disability Rights New Mexico from 1992-1999 when he joined the Commission. Mr. Trapp, who is a burn injury survivor and is blind, graduated with honors from the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Law in 1990. From 1991- 1992, he worked as an Equal Opportunity Specialist at UNM and taught Disability Law as an adjunct professor at the UNM School of Law in the fall of 1993. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB), and is a Past-President of NCSAB. He is also a member of the State Workforce Development Board, and the Commission for the Blind State Rehabilitation Council.

Photo of Eugene Oulvey, PhD, CRC

Sabina Brych, BA, has held the position of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor in the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center at Harborview Medical Center since 1994. In this position, Ms. Brych oversees the Burn Center's vocational efforts. She consults on all working-age burn survivors concerning issues pertaining to employment following injury and is a key member of the burn team for individuals with Labor & Industries insurance. Ms. Brych has authored several peer-reviewed articles and chapters on employment after burn injury and was instrumental in the development of the Return to Work after Burn Injury website dissemination project of the NIDILRR-funded Northwest Regional Burn Model System.