Guide to Treating Work-Related Injuries Now Available

Imagine you’re seeing a patient with severe wheezing and coughing. You guess the symptoms might have something to do with work, but your patient is not forthcoming about her job, and you’re not sure what to ask. You hesitate to talk with her employer since you don’t know if the patient has a valid work permit. You don’t know how your patient can protect herself from potential on-the-job hazards, and she says she can’t afford to take time off.

Difficult cases like this confront doctors, nurses, and physician assistants every day. To help clinicians help their patients, the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) developed an occupational health guide for primary care clinicians. Addressing Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses: A Guide for Primary Care Providers provides clinicians with practical tools to raise awareness of common occupational and environmental hazards and health effects, and helps providers refer patients to sources of support for addressing underlying causes of injury and disease.

“We’ve heard from doctors and nurses who not only have to determine which health problems are work-related, but who also need to recommend changes to protect the patients and their coworkers,” said Lenore Azaroff, Sc.D., a MassCOSH volunteer who coordinated the project with occupational health specialist Elise Pechter, M.P.H. “These clinicians feel frustrated because no one has trained them in these complicated issues.”

Published in partnership with Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, the guide was developed with input from community health center clinicians, occupational medicine specialists, union leaders, and injured workers to ensure the information reflects their experience and priorities. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health lent its technical support and contributed funding for the guide’s production.

The guide includes a suggested occupational and environmental health history, occupational profiles for jobs common among low-wage or immigrant workers, and a series of health effects profiles for conditions that are potentially work-related and commonly seen in the primary care setting. Also included is information on how to communicate with employers, reporting requirements, and patient handouts about workers’ compensation and workers’ rights.

“Many of our patients come to the health center with job-related illnesses and injuries,” said Davida Andelman, director of community health at the Bowdoin Community Health Center in Dorchester. “This guide is a very helpful tool for providers so patients not only get appropriate treatment but also the resources they need so they don’t return to the same unsafe working conditions.”

– Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, MassCOSH

To learn more about the guide or MassCOSH, call Marcy Goldstein-Gelb at (617) 825-7233, ext. 15.