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Many physicians find sickness certification of patients problematic. The aims were to explore problems that physicians in different clinical settings experience with sickness certification tasks in general and with assessment of function, work capacity, and need for sick leave, as well as handling of sick-leave spells of different durations.

Data from a questionnaire sent to 33 144 physicians aged <68 years, living and working in Sweden in 2012 were analysed. The response rate was 57.6 %. The study group comprised the 12 933 responders who had sickness certification tasks. Frequencies and odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals were calculated for questions concerning how problematic the physicians experienced different assessments related to patients’ function, work capacity, and need for sick leave, as well as handling sick …