Time and Knowledge Barriers to Recognizing Occupational Disease

Details

• Personal Author:
  Harber P ; Merz B
• Description:
  Traditionally, inadequate training has been considered the major barrier to recognition of occupational disease. A survey of 136 practitioners was conducted to determine which barriers were actually considered most relevant. The sample included three subgroups: primary care, occupational medicine-oriented, and Mexican. Four aggregate indices were derived: Knowledge, Time, Unpleasant aspects, and Importance. Inadequate Time was as important as inadequate Knowledge, whereas perceived lack of Importance and Unpleasant aspects were less relevant. Patterns among the subgroups were generally comparable. This study implies that training more occupational medicine specialists in increasing recognition is not sufficient unless specific strategies to overcome time constraints are also implemented. For example, emphasizing a "complete occupational history" may be counterproductive. Limiting histories to selected patients; use of focused, brief histories; and, perhaps, computer-based methods are needed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Diseases Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Health Care Medical Treatment Occupational Diseases Occupational Medicine Training
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• 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:
  285-288
• Volume:
  43
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058302
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2001 Mar; 43(3):285-288
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr Philip Harber, UCLA Occupational-Environmental Medicine, 10940 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1220, Los Angeles, CA 90024
• Email:
  pharber@ucla.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20040630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d8b33673ad39ef861428708dd3837b949dd0c3c4e0dcc721eb24266c6f20f5353832a12665c05424e877c6ba4fbda7bbc4c9fdcc8f70f377fce2e0527109ff71
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221429/cdc_221429_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 91.98 KB ]