Psychological and emotional factors of work experience as an issue for occupational medicine practice in the hospital

Abstract

The consideration of psychomental and psychological load of employees is not part of the traditional working sphere of occupational physicians. Medical diagnostics and check-up are still regarded as the primary area of responsibility. This fact might be seen as a drawback with regard to the increasing importance of work-related psychomental load on the one hand and the actual requirements for high-quality occupational medicine on the other. The goal of a study in 64 occupational physicians in hospitals was to find out how occupational physicians estimate their own competence for dealing with psychomental problems of their clients, whether employees trust them, and which personal attitudes can be found towards the importance of work-related psychomental strain. The self-estimation of personal competence was--in contradiction to the results of former studies focusing on employees' views--surprisingly positive. A significant influence is the amount of work within the health-care sector compared to others. This might be interpreted as a selective effect and leads to the need for large-scale studies. Agreement could be found concerning the lack of chances for qualification in this sphere. Hence, further education and training in professional work with psychomental problems at the workplace has to be extended.