I believe saw a guy doing a FCE test when I was at PT a couple of yrs ago-
his was for an electrician trade. He had to twist wires and nut's-bolts at all angles, use screw drivers, tolls of that trade.
he was having to stop and rest and the PT tester took notes and recorded the status of the testee.
here is a snip & link to the full PDF article about FCE - better than I can explain since I only saw the one in process.
[GUIDELINES: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PHYSICAL THERAPY: EVALUATING FUNCTIONAL
CAPACITY BOD G10-08-01-01 [Retitled: Occupational Health Guidelines: Evaluating Functional
Capacity, Amended BOD G11-01-07-11; BOD 03-01-16-54; BOD 03-00-25-60; BOD 11-97-16-53]
[Guideline]
1.0 Introduction
A Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) is a comprehensive battery of performance based tests that
is used commonly to determine ability for work, activities of daily living, or leisure activities.1
The need for functional evaluation was identified in the 1980s by workers’ compensation systems that
required specific information about worker functional capacities and limitations to expedite the return-
to-work process. Historically, return-to-work decisions were based upon diagnoses and prognoses of
physicians, but did not include objective measurements of worker functional abilities and job match
demands. Physical therapists, whose core competencies include functional evaluation, began to
develop functional capacity tests for comparison to the physical demands of jobs and occupations.
These functional tests initially examined and evaluated the ability of a worker to perform physical job
match conditions as described by the US Department of Labor in Selected Characteristics of
Occupations as Defined in the Revised Dictionary of Occupational Titles2 and The Revised
Handbook for Analyzing Jobs.3 Functional examination/evaluation, combined with diagnoses and
prognoses by physical therapists has emerged as a valid and effective tool to support safe return to
work, activities of daily living or leisure activities after an injury or illness]
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...rJZ-9DxXZUHjMQ