Occupational medicine
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The assessment of doctors' health and fitness to practise is recognized as a specialist area of occupational medicine practice. This paper will consider the involvement of specialists from a variety of disciplines in the overall assessment process and will discuss some current assessment models. The paper will make recommendations for further developments in this area.
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Occupational medicine · Aug 2008
Doctors' health and fitness to practise: the need for a bespoke model of assessment.
Doctors' performance and fitness to practise are attracting increased attention. High profile cases have brought into question the assessment of fitness to practise and the monitoring of professional performance. ⋯ Conditions such as mental ill-health and substance abuse may affect doctors' fitness to practise, but other conditions may also be relevant. This paper will discuss the occurrence of ill-health and the need for a bespoke model of assessment.
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Occupational medicine · Jun 2008
Managing low back pain: knowledge and attitudes of hospital managers.
Low back pain (LBP) is a major cause of work-related disability. Despite an increasing emphasis on the role of employers and workplace managers in reducing work disability, little research has been conducted in this area. ⋯ Hospital line managers' knowledge of the evidence regarding their role in LBP management needs to be improved. Managers believed better information, improved staff resources and easier access to health and ergonomic services would facilitate their management of workers with LBP.
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Occupational medicine · May 2008
Feasibility of a screening programme for lung cancer in former asbestos workers.
Low-dose computed tomography (CT) has been found to detect more Stage IA lung cancer than chest x-ray. ⋯ Screening adherence and frequency of detection were low, while costs and radiation dose were high. In spite of a high cumulative asbestos exposure, lung cancer risk was not increased relative to the general population. The screening programme was not felt to be cost-effective from the perspective of the government as a third-party funding agency.
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Occupational medicine · Jan 2008
Comparative StudyComparison of three methods of pre-employment medical evaluations.
Increasing efforts are being made to prevent sickness absence and to increase worker efficiency, including the use of costly pre-employment medical assessment of white-collar workers and labourers, excluding occupations for which medical supervision is required by law. ⋯ The restriction rate achieved by medical examinations either done by an OP (Group A) or by a GP (Group B) was the same as in OHQ (Group C). The use of a self-administered questionnaire evaluated by an OP is the preferred method of pre-employment evaluation for non-hazardous occupations.