[Collaboration between occupational physicians and other specialists including insurance physicians]. / Die Kooperation zwischen Arbeitsmedizinern und anderen Fachärzten einschliesslich Versicherungsmedizinern. Eine Ubersicht der aktuellen Literatur.

Collaboration between various stakeholders is essential for a well-operating vocational rehabilitation process. Researchers have mentioned, among other players, insurance physicians, the curative sector and employers. In 2011 the WHO organised the congress "Connecting Health and Labour: What role for occupational health in primary care". The congress was also attended by representatives of the WONCA (World Organisations of Family Medicine). In general, everyone agreed that occupational health aspects should continue to be seen as an integral part of primary health care. However, it is not easy to find literature on this subject. For this reason we conducted a review. We searched for literature relating to collaboration with occupational physicians in Dutch, English and German between 2001 and autumn 2011. Our attention focused on cooperation with specialists and insurance physicians. Therefore, we searched PUBMED using MeSH terms and made use of the database from the "Tijdschrift voor bedrijfs- en verzekeringsgeneeskunde (TBV) [Dutch Journal for Occupational - and Insurance Medicine]". We also checked the database from the "Deutsches Arzteblatt [German Medical Journal]" and made use of the online catalogue from THIEME - eJOURNALS. Last but not least, I used the online catalogue from the German paper "Arbeits -, Sozial -, Umweltmedizin [Occupational -, Social -, Milieu Medicine]". Additionally, we made use of the "snowball - method" to find relevant literature. We found many references to this subject. The Netherlands in particular has done a lot of research in this field. However, there is little research on the cooperation between occupational physicians and specialists; in particular insurance physicians. This is interesting, because several authors have mentioned its importance. However, cooperation with other specialists seems not to be the norm. Therefore, cooperation between curative physicians (specialists but also family doctors), insurance physicians and other stakeholders is essential and should be improved. In the future researchers should develop techniques, which help to improve collabora- tion. For example, Dutch investigators advocate the development of guidelines. There is agreement that collaboration between occupational physicians and some other specialists is important. In particular, collaboration between specialists in physical medicine has been investigated. Also, curative physicians and insurance physicians have an important role in disability management. So all stakeholders should work together more intensively. However, literature is difficult to find and not often part of international literature. This must change urgently.

Guidelines for assessment of work disability: an international survey.

BACKGROUND: Assessments of long-term work disability are carried out by social insurance physicians (SIPs) and are little supported with evidence or instruments. Guidelines are hardly ever used in social insurance medicine. Developments in social insurance medicine might be slow as insurance is different from clinical medicine. AIMS: We explored the comparability of assessments in social insurance medicine in different countries and asked what guidelines were in official use. METHODS: Eighteen European countries were invited. A questionnaire on assessments practices was sent to national experts. A comparative table was presented to all contributors. Countries with guidelines were visited. Guidelines were categorised according to their purpose and their contents were compared. The results were presented to experts of the participating countries for validation. RESULTS: Fourteen countries participated. Functional capacity assessment was common. Guidelines for SIPs were reported to be officially in use in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Twenty-two guidelines were medical and eleven were procedural. Medical guidelines mainly treated the same topics. Procedural guidelines were more variable. CONCLUSION: Assessment of work disability is comparable between countries. Medical and procedural guidelines should be further developed and tested on their value in practice. The procedural guidelines need to be published in a clear and comparable manner. The legal security of claimants would be endorsed by this. Germany and the Netherlands are most experienced and could take the lead in international development.

[The medical specialist for insurance medicine--the Flemish residency]. / Der Facharzt für Versicherungsmedizin--die Weiterbildung in Flandern.

Insurance medicine is becoming more and more important. Currently, there are few countries in Europe where insurance medicine is recognised as an independent discipline; the Netherlands is one example. Since 2007 the "Specialist in Insurance Medicine and Medico-legal Expertise" is recognised in Belgium. This article will give an overview of the residency of Flemish physicians. By enactment, this consists of a theoretical and a practical section. This way of education should open broad possibilities in private and social insurance medicine, but also in the research sector.

[Increasing use of social benefits by young people with chronic illness or disability in the Netherlands]. / Zunahme der Inanspruchnahme von Sozialleistungen bei jungen Personen mit einer chronischen Erkrankung bzw. Behinderung in den Niederlanden.

Young handicapped citizens in the Netherlands have increasingly been receiving social benefits or special services during the last five years. Dutch governmental departments have therefore commissioned an applied social policy research. We analyzed six benefits (for example special education, psychological healthcare, and Wajong benefits for young disabled). The usage of all these provisions is increasing. In particular we focus on "Wajong" (a sort of pension for Dutch young disabled people) and its social consequences. The number of Wajong benefits is growing strongly. In 2006 every 22nd person aged 18 (4.5%) claimed and received this disability benefit. Also, the statistical trend is that people with a handicap are less often employed and are more often unemployed. So there is an ongoing political discussion about these provisions with special attention to Wajong.