Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL), Rome, Italy.
Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
PLoS One. 2023 Jul 27;18(7):e0288739. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288739. eCollection 2023.
Cancer is a global major public health problem since it is a leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 worldwide and the most recent epidemiological data suggested that its global impact is growing significantly. In this context, cancer survivors have to live for a long time often in a condition of disability due to the long-term consequences, both physical and psychological. These difficulties can seriously impair their working ability, limiting the employability. In this context, the occupational physician plays a key role in the implementation and enforcement of measures to support the workers affected by cancer, to address issues such as the information on health promotion, the analysis of work capacity and the management of disability at work and also promoting a timely and effective return to work and preserving their employability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to gather useful information to support the occupational physicians in the management of workers affected by cancer, through a survey on 157 Italian occupational physicians. Based on the interviewees' opinions, the most useful occupational safety and health professionals in terms of job retention and preservation of workers affected by cancer are the employers and the occupational physicians themselves, whose role is crucial in identifying and applying the most effective reasonable accommodations that should be provided to the workers affected by cancer. The provision of these accommodations take place on the occasion of mandatory health surveillance medical examination to which the worker affected by cancer is subjected when he returns to work. Results on training and information needs showed that the management of the workers affected by cancer is essentially centered on an appropriate fitness for work judgment and on the correct performance of health surveillance. However, an effective and successful management model should be based on a multidisciplinary and integrated approach that, from the earliest stages of the disease, involves the occupational physicians and employers.
癌症是一个全球性的主要公共卫生问题，因为它是导致死亡的主要原因，2020 年全球有近 1000 万人因此死亡，最近的流行病学数据表明，其全球影响正在显著增长。在这种情况下，癌症幸存者必须长期生活，由于长期的身体和心理后果，他们往往处于残疾状态。这些困难会严重影响他们的工作能力，限制他们的就业能力。在这种情况下，职业医生在实施和执行支持受癌症影响的工人的措施方面发挥着关键作用，以解决健康促进信息、工作能力分析以及工作残疾管理等问题，并促进及时有效地重返工作岗位，保持他们的就业能力。因此，本研究的目的是通过对 157 名意大利职业医生进行调查，收集有用的信息来支持职业医生管理受癌症影响的工人。根据受访者的意见，在保留和保留受癌症影响的工人的工作方面，最有用的职业安全和健康专业人员是雇主和职业医生本身，他们的角色在确定和应用应向受癌症影响的工人提供的最有效合理的适应措施方面至关重要。这些适应措施是在受癌症影响的工人返回工作岗位时接受强制性健康监测体检时提供的。关于培训和信息需求的结果表明，受癌症影响的工人的管理主要集中在适当的工作适应性判断和正确的健康监测执行上。然而，一个有效的成功的管理模式应该基于多学科和综合的方法，从疾病的早期阶段开始，让职业医生和雇主都参与进来。
