Premium
Integrated approach to health screening of former department of energy workers detects both occupational and non‐occupational illness
Author(s) -
Stange Bill,
McInerney John,
Golden Ashley,
Benade Wendy,
Neill Barbara,
Mayer Annyce,
Witter Roxana,
Tenney Liliana,
Stinson Kaylan,
Cragle Donna,
Newman Lee S.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22554
Subject(s) - medicine , occupational safety and health , environmental health , occupational medicine , occupational health nursing , public health , family medicine , health promotion , nursing , pathology
Background The National Supplemental Screening Program (NSSP) uses a Total Worker Health TM approach to address U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) former worker health. This article provides the design of the integrated occupational health screening and promotion program. Methods The NSSP implemented a web‐based relational health records system to process demographic, exposure, and clinical data. We present medical findings for 12,000 DOE former workers that completed an initial NSSP medical screening between October 1, 2005 and October 4, 2013. We discuss the DOE former worker participant population and the exposure‐based and non‐occupational medical screening tests used. Results The NSSP identified potential occupationally related health conditions in 40.5% of those screened. Notably, we identified 85.8% of participants with addressable non‐occupational health conditions, many of which were previously undiagnosed. Conclusion The NSSP demonstrates that the identification of potential occupational health issues in conjunction with addressable non‐occupational health conditions provides former workers with information to more effectively manage health. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:200–211, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.