Work-Related Interventions during Office Visits to Occupational Health Physicians

Abstract

Background.Systematically applied work-related interventions during visits to occupational health (OH) physicians support the preventive and health promotive goals of OH. The proportion of the visits including a work-related intervention was analyzed according to patient, health problem, and physician determinants in a sample of visits to OH physicians in Finland.Methods.A cross-sectional study was carried out among 55 Occupational Health Services (OHS) units. Office encounters with 4,404 male and 5,373 female employed patients ages 18–64 years, recorded by 114 OHS physicians, were analyzed.Results.Altogether 856 (8.8%) encounters included a work-related intervention. The work-related interventions were distributed across all the main disease categories, the majority of which were musculoskeletal diseases. Of the patient determinants, occupational group (the residual group of non-white-collar or non-blue-collar workers) associated positively with a work-related intervention, while age or gender did not. The physician's female gender and experience associated positively with work-related interventions. Work-related interventions took place more often in integrated and joint model OHS than in municipal health care centers and private medical centers.Conclusions.Work-related interventions are used by OH physicians for diverse health problems. More research is needed to better understand the reasons for the observed differences in work-related interventions. Also, research is needed to evaluate the efficiency of such interventions.