Occupational Issues in Episodic Care Populations

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bublik M ; Harber P ; Merz B ; Steimberg C ; Wallace J
• Description:
  Background: Much care for non-emergency problems is provided at "episodic care" settings (e.g., urgent care and emergency room). Methods: Ninety-four subjects, without known occupational disease, who were seeking care for a chronic or sub-acute problem in an episodic care location, were interviewed to assess the frequency and types of occupational health concerns. They were asked whether work probably "caused" or "made worse" their illness and whether their illness "made work difficult." Results: Categorized hierarchically, 20% reported causation, 15% worsening, and 15% interference of illness with work. (Each was categorized in one category only). Only 50% reported absence of a workplace-health interaction. One-third reported that workplace changes could improve their functional status. Nevertheless, workplace factors were discussed only 21% of the time in physician-patient encounters. Conclusions: This study suggests that occupational health issues are frequent in episodic care settings and that the definition of occupational health issues should be broadened to include "made worse" and "illness makes work difficult" as well as the traditional workplace causation definition. Further, episodic care settings present unique opportunities for prevention. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Delivery Of Health Care Emergency Responders Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Episodic Care Emergency Care Medical Care Occupational Disease Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Surveillance Urgent Care Center Work Causation Workplace Accommodation
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  221-226
• Volume:
  43
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058257
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2003 Feb; 43(2):221-226
• Contact Point Address:
  Philip Harber, UCLA Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 10940 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 1220, Los Angeles, CA 90024
• Email:
  pharber@mednet.ucla.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20040630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6a52caf31eb137f89f988e7b0b2339119ed947333554c1eb64562c1972a35634ef3ae09984ed1888b879db3a3dcf519d4692ee2375debc1b886090032b408cac
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221387/cdc_221387_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 84.56 KB ]