1. Explain that the test is one of functional abilities and not necessarily related to clinical findings. Many clients want to give a minute by minute account of their five (5) year old injury state along with verbatim comments from every noted specialist. This test is interested only in what the client can perform at this time.
   
2. Explain that this is a test done under test conditions, so the activities performed during testing are NOT actual work activities done under working conditions. The components of work activities have been broken down to single movements or groups of movements, and the loads used are also non work-like objects

The testing is done under these conditions in order to reduce the number of extraneous variables so as to be able to correlate and reproduce the conditions if required. This needs to be done in order to adhere to evaluation criteria of reliability and validity, as well as accuracy of results. Any tasks which remain in question after completing this portion of the eval may be simulated with work equipment or at the worksite and tested using the same data collection process.

    3. Instruct the client that you, as the evaluator, are interested in the ability to function during the activity being tested. Discomfort and difficulty of performing the activity is to be noted, but it is the actual performance of the activity that is important. This performance can then be measured in relation to quantitative and qualitative concepts.

This can all be summed up in a few paragraphs. For example:

"This Test is called a Functional Capacity Evaluation and will take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to perform. I will ask you to perform various activities throughout the Evaluation, some of these will be easy for you, and some may be quite difficult. The types of tests may include fitness, endurance, strength, movement, manual handling, repeated movements, or work tasks either actual or simulated. Some activities will be timed activities, and some will be activities where I will keep loading you to the point where it will become increasingly difficult to perform the activity. In these cases, I will ask you with each additional load, if you want to continue.

At various times during this test, I will ask you about any discomfort you may have and it will be recorded using a scale of 0 – 10 – (Explain briefly and show the diagram.) I will also ask about the effort needed to do this activity – (Explain the Modified Rating Perceived Exertion Scale.) These will be recorded and used to collate the final result. In an effort to assess your current capabilities you need to provide a full effort. You are to let the evaluator know what changes you are feeling with each activity or when the evaluator asks

There are certain inherent risks with a functional capacity evaluation because you will be asked to exert effort, handle weights, and perform activities with increasing degrees of difficulty, which could cause an increase in your current level of pain or discomfort. There is also a rare possibility that you could experience a new musculoskeletal injury, but the risk is small, and you will be able to control any activity by stopping.

By the completion of the test, you will have performed all the major components of your everyday activities with real or simulated work tasks. All I ask of you is that you give your full effort for every test.

Your effort and pain levels are likely to change during testing and when testing is completed. It is also common to have change in pain levels even 1 - 3 days after completion of testing. I will call in 24 hours to follow up on this part of the testing.

We can pause briefly for a drink - cold water is here for your use. You may find yourself requiring fluids frequently so please us the water as required between activities."

Based on this information, do you have you any questions? Do you agree to participate fully or in part in the functional capacity evaluation? If so, please sign.