What is occupational Medicine?
As medical specialists, we are proud of our specialty. There are many doctors who will claim to
practice “occupational medicine” – sometimes under the name “industrial
medicine” or “work comp” – but they are not trained or board-certified.
However, occupational medicine is a specialty within the American Board of
Preventive Medicine. As preventive
medicine practitioners, occupational medicine specialists’ goals are to improve
workplace health and safety using the principles of preventive medicine:
Primary prevention:
·
Pre-employment physicals
·
Return-to-work evaluations
·
OSHA surveillance evaluations (including respiratory protection and hearing
tests)
·
DOT medical examinations
·
Urine drug screens and Evidentiary Breath alcohol tests.
·
Workplace site visits; ergonomic or other safety recommendations
Secondary prevention:
·
OSHA surveillance evaluations
·
Early identification and treatment of occupational injuries and illnesses
Tertiary prevention:
·
Quickly return the injured employee to pre-injury activities as soon as possible
Disability
ratings and IME reports
who can benefit from the specialists at ROEP?
·
Are you self employed?
·
Are you a small business
owner?
·
Are you responsible for
OHS or HR at a medium or large company?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these, you can
benefit from ROEP’s services. Preventive medicine knows no bounds. So, if you work, you can benefit from
occupational medicine specialists.
A common misconception is that occupational medicine
doctors are biased and work for the employer.
This misconception has been caused by “company doctors” or “work comp
doctors” who are willing to do anything to keep their client company “happy” –
which they think means to minimize injuries and/or call things “not work
related.”
However, true occupational medicine specialists will
practice preventive, evidence-based medicine.
Our first aim is to know the work and the workplace so we can see how the
worker fits into it – or fails to fit into.
Board-certified occupational medicine specialists have
training and resources to quickly identify occupational injuries and illnesses.
Knowing the hazards of your workplace helps us to make
evidence-based determinations whether your problem is work-related. Not only that, but it helps us to know the
proper treatment of the problem.
Self-EMployed
You
need to get back to work as
quickly as possible and you need to be running at full steam at that time. If you aren’t working, you aren’t getting
paid.
You want somebody who will quickly diagnose and properly
treat your workplace injury. You need
occupational medicine specialists. Our
occupational medicine specialists are there to help you.
Our doctors have training in the problems of farmers and
other agriculture workers. This includes
“refresher” training at the
University of
Iowa
.
Small Business owners
You cannot afford to have employees out of work. As a small business, you and your
employees are probably like family. You
depend on each other. When one person is
out, everyone is affected. After all, if
there are only five of you and one person is unable to do his or her job, that
is 20% of your workforce. If a large
company (like Boeing or IBM) cannot afford to operate at those losses, how can
you?
Evidence-based, preventive (occupational)
medicine specialists can help your work-family quickly recover from a workplace
injury or illness.
HR or Safety manager for a Large company
Your most important asset is your employee. If they get hurt at work, you want them
back to work as quickly as possible. An
employee who is not quickly and accurately diagnosed and treated for an
occupational injury or illness is an employee who is not happy. A hurting or unhappy employee can make you
feel like you have failed at your job. An
unhappy or hurting employee is unproductive.
Everyone Wins
With occupational medicine specialists to assist you,
everyone wins.
·
The employee is happy
because he/she gets treated quickly and stops hurting; they know you care.
·
You are happy because
your employee is happy.
·
Your boss is happy
because productivity continues.
Your insurance company is happy because overall costs are controlled.
And our
occupational medicine specialists are happy because, as good doctors,
we are happy that our patients have received good medical care.
With ROEP, it is a win-win-win situation!
What Else Should I Know?
The occupational medicine specialists at ROEP can meet all of your occupational
health needs. From primary prevention to
tertiary prevention, we are there to help.