Individual in-patient and out-patient prevention in occupational skin diseases

Abstract

Concerning all occupation-related diseases, one-third of those reported in Germany are skin diseases. Among them, contact dermatitis is the most frequent skin disease. It usually presents as hand eczema leading to a loss of function and ability to work as well as reduced quality of life. Due to the high demand a number of prevention programmes were introduced. They comprise measures of secondary (out-patient) and tertiary (in-patient) prevention. Out-patient prevention measures include dermatologist's report and occupation-tailored teaching and prevention programmes. If the occupational skin disease is severe, therapy is not successful or the diagnosis is not clear measures of tertiary prevention can be offered as an in-patient treatment and prevention programme. All this aims to prevent the job loss of the patient. Preventive measures in occupational dermatology have proven to be very effective in recent years, especially measures of individual in-patient and out-patient prevention as components of a complex hierarchical prevention concept. This integrated concept of an in-patient/out-patient disease management reveals remarkable pertinent effectivity for patients with severe occupational dermatoses in risk professions.