The Daily Schedule Of An Occupational Health Practitioner

The occupational health practitioner (OHP) will work either in a private office where patients will be sent to them by employers, or they will be employed by companies such as mines, construction companies and steel work companies to manage their employees' health needs.

The services that an OHP provides can be limited to seeing employees who are acutely ill and then managing them appropriately (these patients are seen whenever they complain of an illness), or it can involve providing a full service. This would include examining potential employees to rule out any acute of chronic problems, doing employee physicals to make sure that they are healthy enough to perform the work required of them, follow up physicals and consultations and management of any chronic conditions.

For the purposes of this articles, we shall discuss the schedule of an OHP who is employed by a company.

Mondays

The OHP will see potential new employees in order to determine whether they are fit enough to perform the work required by the particular employer, and to exclude any acute or chronic illnesses which may be aggravated or worsened by exposure to the workplace. 

The consultation will include taking a proper history from the patient and performing a clinical examination. The important investigations that will be done here include taking an ECG, chest X-ray (especially in employees who will be working in mines), performing hearing tests (especially in employees who will be working in factories that produce high levels of noise) and vision tests (very important in employees who will be drivers). Drug screening tests are also performed on consenting employees if instructed to do so by the company.

Acutely ill patients of those having suffered minor injuries are seen and managed by the OHP on a daily basis. Worksman's Compensation forms then need to be filled out and the employees are followed up accordingly. Any major injuries would need to be referred for specialist intervention.

Tuesday

This day will be reserved for performing yearly follow up examinations on employees that are in the company's current employ. This would include performing follow up clinical examinations and investigations, as mentioned above.

Comparisons are then made regarding the OHPs findings. If there are any significant changes, then these need to be managed appropriately, which may mean that the employee needs to be referred for further investigations or management. 

Any health related changes that are deemed to be due to exposure to the work environment need to be discussed with the management of the company. This may mean that employees may need to be compensated for these issues.

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Wednesday

This day usually revolves around the OHP drafting policy and procedure requirements as well as attending meetings. These policies are important for health and safety in the workplace and need to be discussed with the management of the company.

Thursday

The OHP will continue seeing employees either as acute patients or to follow them up.

Friday

Any administrative issues are usually resolved on a Friday. Health and safety reports on employees are updated or finalised on this day. 

An OHP may have to make themselves available for any staff who require medical help after hours and on weekend.