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Experts answer essential questions about Occupational Medicine

Experts answer essential questions about Occupational Medicine

factory injury where Carle occupational medicine can helpHealthcare services include more than wellness visits and help for when people are ill or injured. Learn more about how Occupational Medicine helps both business owners and employees do the work they need to do.

What is Occupational Medicine, and why is it important?

Occupational Medicine is a medical specialty geared toward the prevention and treatment of job-related illness and injury. Those providing care in the Occupational Medicine setting are trained to improve the health of workers through prevention, clinical care and disability management as it relates to the work environment. 

What makes Occupational Medicine important is that it occupies a critical position at the center of virtually all health-related transactional activities in the workplace. Occupational Medicine professionals are connected to all parts of a sometimes complex infrastructure: senior management, benefits, Human Resources, legal, worker’s compensation, government regulatory agencies, labor and unions, hospitals and public health organizations.

They serve as a fulcrum of workplace health, understanding the needs and challenges of each of these diverse groups. 

Who could use Occupational Medicine’s services?

Businesses both small and large, municipalities, school districts, agriculture, law enforcement, fire departments, hospitals, government agencies can benefit from Occupational Medicine services. Any issues as they relate to health and safety or productivity and medical regulatory compliance for employers and their employees are the domain of Occupational Medicine. 

hand injury where Carle occupational medicine can helpRange of services can include: medical clearance for DOT/CDL, childcare centers, nursing homes, assisted living, respiratory protection, firefighting, police training and any number of occupations that would benefit from pre-placement medical clearance.  

Any post-accident injury care from work, evaluation for illness due to exposures, assessments for return to work after sickness or injury. Fittness for duty assessments based on substance use or abuse. Coordination of rehabilitation for work injuries and disability assessments. 

Do Occupational Medicine visits effectively replace a yearly visit to a Primary Care Provider?

No. Occupational Medicine visits focus only on workplace injury or illness, and the goal is to help employees return to normal health and employment. Additionally, Occupational Medicine focuses on safety and accident/injury prevention.

These visits are not like routine visits with your care team and should not be used as a replacement for those visits.

Who should people contact if they’d like to learn more?

For questions regarding services and contracts, please contact Amy Cathorall.

Categories: Staying Healthy

Tags: Carle, nurse, Mattoon, medicine, careers, occupational, workers, compensation, business