Surveillance Programme of Work-related Diseases (WRD) in France

The surveillance programme of work-related diseases (WRD) is based on a network of occupational physicians who notify all WRD diagnosed during a two-week observation period. The aims are mainly to estimate the prevalence of non-compensated WRD in the working population according to socio economic factors; to determine new indicators of occupational health; to update the lists of compensable occupational diseases; to understand and assess under-compensation and under-notification. The participation rate for occupational physicians is around 33% in 2008. The main WRD are the musculoskeletal disorders, followed by the mental disorders. This 2-week protocol, repeated regularly, provides useful data on frequency of pathologies linked to employment as well as an estimate of unreported WRD subject to compensation or non-compensated WRDs, and the trends of WRDs over the time.

A Associação Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho: locus do processo de constituição da especialidade medicina do trabalho no Brasil na década de 1940 / The Brazilian Association of Workers' Medicine: a space for the constitution of occupational health as a medical specialty in Brazil in the 1940s

O artigo analisa a Associação Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho (ABMT), criada em fins de 1944 como lócus de consolidação do campo da medicina do trabalho no Brasil. O grupo dos primeiros especialistas no campo da higiene e medicina do trabalho que trabalhavam no Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio (MTIC) foi o responsável pela fundação da ABMT, nas próprias dependências do Ministério. Contando com um núcleo inicial de 35 médicos e cinco engenheiros, todos oriundos do MTIC, a ABMT destacava como seu objetivo primordial, o estudo, a discussão e a divulgação dos assuntos referentes à medicina do trabalho. Entre as principais atividades promovidas pela ABMT, destacavam-se as reuniões científicas mensais (palestras de médicos convidados e de médicos e engenheiros do próprio MTIC), a organização de eventos científicos e a publicação de um periódico especializado. Logo após a sua criação, já em 1945, a ABMT passou a integrar o Bureau Internacional de Segurança do Trabalho, com sede em Montreal, Canadá e o Bureau Internacional do Trabalho, da Organização Internacional do Trabalho. Em dezembro de 1945, no momento da eleição da nova diretoria, criou-se a Revista Médica do Trabalho, cuja primeira publicação foi em 1946.

This article analyzes the Brazilian Association of Workers' Medicine, created in the end of 1944 as a space for consolidating occupational health as a medical specialty in Brazil. The Association was founded by the first group of specialists in the field of occupational hygiene and medicine with seat at the facilities of the proper Ministry of Work, Industry and Commerce, where the founders were working. Counting on an initial core group of 35 physicians and five engineers, all of them coming from the Ministry, the main objective of the Association was to study, discuss and promote the issues related to workers' medicine. Among the most relevant activities promoted by the Association were the monthly scientific meetings (with lectures held by invited physicians and physicians and engineers of the Ministry itself), the organization of scientific events and the publication of a specialized periodical. In 1945, only one year after its foundation, the Association passed to make part of the International Bureau of Safety at Work, with seat in Montreal, Canada, and the International Bureau of Work of the International Labor Organization. In December 1945, on occasion of the election of the new board of directors, the Association created the Journal of Workers' Medicine, whose first issue was published in 1946.

Relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time occupational physicians

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>We investigated relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese nese full-time occupational physicians (OPs).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In 2000, we mailed self-administrated questionnaires to 716 OPs. Of these OPs, 349 (49%) returned sufficiently completed questionnaires for analyses. oblique-rotated principal factor analysis of the job stress questionnaire extracted three components; low understanding of occupational health services in companies (low understanding), conflicts between occupational physicians and their coworkers (conflicts), and discrepancies between occupational physicians' routine work and occupational health services (discrepancies).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The model, in which low understanding contributed to self-rated health through job satisfaction and self-rated health was influenced by job satisfaction and discrepancies, provided a good fit to the data.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>We found that a potential relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time OPs. The present results implied that among full-time OPs, low understanding contributed negatively to self-rated health through job satisfaction, and that self-rated health was influenced positively by job satisfaction and negatively by discrepancies.</p>

Relationship between Job Stress and Self-Rated Health among Japanese Full-Time Occupational Physicians

Objectives: We investigated relationships between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time occupational physicians (OPs). Methods: In 2000, we mailed self-administrated questionnaires to 716 OPs. Of these OPs, 349 (49%) returned sufficiently completed questionnaires for analyses. Oblique-rotated principal factor analysis of the job stress questionnaire extracted three components; low understanding of occupational health services in companies (low understanding), conflicts between occupational physicians and their coworkers (conflicts), and discrepancies between occupational physicians’ routine work and occupational health services (discrepancies). Results: The model, in which low understanding contributed to self-rated health through job satisfaction and self-rated health was influenced by job satisfaction and discrepancies, provided a good fit to the data. Conclusions: We found that a potential relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time OPs. The present results implied that among full-time OPs, low understanding contributed negatively to self-rated health through job satisfaction, and that self-rated health was influenced positively by job satisfaction and negatively by discrepancies.