Medical care of employees long-term sick listed due to mental health problems: a cohort study to describe and compare the care of the occupational physician and the general practitioner.

Objectives: To describe medical management by the general practitioner (GP) and occupational physician (OP) of workers sick listed due to mental health problems, and to determine agreement in diagnosis, main cause of sickness absence and obstacles in return to work.

Methods: A cohort of 555 employees being sick listed for 12 to 20 weeks due to mental health problems was recruited and followed for 1 year. These employees were interviewed about their mental health and contacts with GP, OP, other specialists and employer.

[Limited change in the quality of the social medical guidance and in the satisfaction of sick-listed patients, after collaborative projects between general practitioners and occupational physicians].

Objective: To evaluate whether regional projects for collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and occupational physicians (OPs) improved the quality of their social medical guidance (SMG) and the satisfaction of their patients.

Design: Evaluation study with before and after measurements with respect to the same GPs and OPs.

Method: Structured interviews were conducted with 58 GPs and 83 OPs regarding the SMG of their sick-listed patients.