Do workers’ health surveillance examinations fulfill their occupational preventive objective? Analysis of the medical practice of occupational physicians in Catalonia

Abstract

Objectives: Although routine workers' health examinations are extensively performed worldwide with important resource allocation, few studies have analyzed their quality. The objective of this study has been to analyze the medical practice of workers' health examinations in Catalonia (Spain) in terms of its occupational preventive aim. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out by means of an online survey addressed to occupational physicians who were members of the Catalan Society of Safety and Occupational Medicine. The questionnaire included factual questions on how they performed health examinations in their usual practice. The bivariate analysis of the answers was performed by type of occupational health service (external/internal). Results: The response rate was 57.9% (N = 168), representing 40.3% of the reference population. A high percentage of occupational physicians had important limitations in their current medical practice, including availability of clinical and exposure information, job-specificity of tests, and early detection and ap-

Health promotion in the practice of occupational health physicians in Poland – patients’ experiences

“…Rodrigez-Jareno i wsp. piszą wręcz, że realizowanie [ograniczanie się do] zakresu badań narzuconego przez ramy prawne niepotrzebnie zwiększa koszty badań i odwraca uwagę od innych, bardziej potrzebnych form profilaktyki i promocji zdrowia [9,10]. Wyniki przeprowadzonych niedawno wśród polskich pacjentów badań ankietowych wskazują, że osoby poddawane badaniom pracowników są również zainteresowane zwiększeniem zakresu opieki realizowanej na podstawie Kodeksu pracy, tak aby obejmowały one wielokierunkowe działania dotyczące profilaktyki chorób.…”