Occupational medicine
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Occupational medicine · Sep 2005
Violence toward mental health staff and safety in the work environment.
An increasing number of violent episodes toward staff were noted at a university department of psychiatry. A multidisciplinary committee was formed consisting of psychiatrists, biostatisticians, psychologists, nurses, administrators, data managers, social workers, security services, educators on personal safety and an attorney to address the problem. ⋯ Threats and assaults on mental health staff have a substantial prevalence and are increasing in our psychiatric population. Practical recommendations derived from our study but in need of further research for confirmation are: (1) multidisciplinary personal safety training to enhance team-building, improve communication and help prevent violent events and (2) establishment of post-event protocols to assist staff-victims and administrators navigate through complex issues occurring after violent events.
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Occupational medicine · Jun 2005
The Occupational Medicine agenda: routes and standards of specialization in Occupational Medicine in Europe.
This paper reports on the nature of specialist training in occupational medicine (OM) in Europe from a survey of representatives from the Occupational Medicine section of the European Union of Medical Specialists/Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes (UEMS). ⋯ There is a marked variation in postgraduate training in OM throughout UEMS countries. The variation between postgraduate training programmes is not consistent with UEMS charter requirements and because of national regulation purposes presents a barrier to the movement of migrant professionals within Europe. This study serves as a focus for further research into training routes and standards of specialization in OM in Europe.
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Occupational medicine · Dec 2004
The impact of shift work on the risk and severity of injuries for hospital employees: an analysis using Oregon workers' compensation data.
While past research on health care workers has found that shift work can lead to negative physiological and psychological consequences, few studies have assessed the extent to which it increases the risk of specific work-related injuries, nor quantified and compared associated types, severity and costs. ⋯ Evening and night shift hospital employees were found to be at greater risk of sustaining an occupational injury than day shift workers, with those on the night shift reporting injuries of the greatest severity as measured by disability leave. Staffing levels and task differences between shifts may also affect injury risk.