Medical surveillance in work-site safety and health programs

Businesses frequently call on family physicians to provide employee health services at the work site or in the clinician's office. These services include medical screening (detection of dysfunction or disease before an employee would ordinarily seek medical care) and medical surveillance (analy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican family physician Vol. 61; no. 9; p. 2785
Main Authors Wesdock, J C, Sokas, R K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Academy of Family Physicians 01.05.2000
Subjects
Accidents, Occupational - prevention & control
Family Practice
Health care
Humans
Occupational health
Occupational Health Services
Preventive medicine
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Summary:Businesses frequently call on family physicians to provide employee health services at the work site or in the clinician's office. These services include medical screening (detection of dysfunction or disease before an employee would ordinarily seek medical care) and medical surveillance (analysis of health information to identify workplace problems that require targeted prevention). Such services can transform acute care and routine screening activities into opportunities for primary prevention when they are integrated into the broader framework of work-site safety and health programs. Components of these programs include management commitment, employee participation, hazard identification and control, employee training and program evaluation. For optimal program success, family physicians must communicate with frontline safety officers and have first-hand knowledge of the workplace and its hazards. Professional and technical resources are available to guide the family physician in the role of medical surveillance program coordinator.
ISSN:0002-838X