What types of information about the COVID-19 pandemic do occupational physicians find useful?: a survey

Abstract

Objectives:To identify what types of information were useful and/or difficult to obtain for occupational physicians during the COVID-19 epidemic, and how information should be provided to help occupational physicians in the event of future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. Methods: The list was developed by categorizing information about COVID-19 delivered by researchers to a group of occupational physicians after the COVID-19 outbreak. We created a survey and asked the group about the usefulness and ease of obtaining each type of information. Results: In total, 79.1-100% of the occupational physicians said that each type of information was "Useful". Information on the nature of the virus; clinical course, testing, and treatment; infection prevention measures; regulations in Japan; immigration restrictions in Japan; and guidelines were all considered useful by more than 95%, as was information about the introduction of information aggregation websites by public institutions, academic societies, experts, and others, and sharing of case studies by information distribution group members. These last two items also had a high percentage of respondents who said that they "only obtained the information because it was distributed this way". Conclusions: Constructing a system for automatic distribution of information that is useful to occupational physicians and difficult to obtain elsewhere may make it easier for occupational physicians to respond more smoothly to emerging infectious disease outbreaks within a company.

What is the role of occupational physicians in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan? A qualitative interview study

“…Expert opinions have been reported on the role of OHS in the COVID-19 pandemic, assessment of the health effect of telework, the survey of useful information for OPs, and reports on OHS activities [11,14,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. These are summarized as follows: actions required of OPs include: protecting workers' health through leadership, collaboration with other occupations and departments, creating a system of worker isolation and return, providing professional information, promoting the use of appropriate protective equipment, temperature measurement and surveillance of symptoms, personalized fitness for work, minimize the adverse effects of telework, and vaccinations.…”

“…OPs are expected to play a role in supporting businesses in taking appropriate measures to fulfill their responsibility to secure workers' health and preserve the stability of business operations, and this is also the case in the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been several reports worldwide regarding OHS functions during the COVID-19 pandemic, including expert opinions on the role of the OP and their actual response to the workers' health problems [14,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]; a literature review of OPs' role [24]; a questionnaire survey of OPs in the United Kingdom on how OHS services have changed in practice [25]; a questionnaire survey of OPs in Japan on useful information in the COVID-19 pandemic [26]; a report on OHS activities in a Singapore hospital [27] and reports on the role of Italian OPs in vaccination [28,29]. In Japan, the Occupational Health and Safety Law requires employers to appoint OPs in workplaces where ≥ 50 workers are regularly employed [30].…”

“…Emerging infectious diseases such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), and H1N1 (novel influenza) have emerged, pointing to the possibility of more frequent pandemics in the future [31,32]. To date, few reports have assessed in detail the actual functioning of OPs during pandemics including COVID-19, most of the available reports are expert opinions or partial activity records [11,14,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Assessing OP's contribution to health and safety at the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic would be beneficial to ensure that OHS services can be effectively deployed in the next pandemic.…”