Medics as a channel for worksite health promotion in remote global locations.

Purpose: In the energy and mining sectors, it is common for employees to work in geographically remote locations, often with a medic for emergency response. This study evaluated an intervention to increase the number of medics conducting health promotion in remote worksites.

Design: Interviews were conducted to gather data for informing intervention and survey development. The intervention was evaluated in a quasiexperimental posttest-only comparison group design using survey data collected at baseline and again after 12 months.

Setting: The intervention was implemented in remote worksites (N  =  201). There were 96 worksites in the intervention condition and 105 sites in the control condition.

Subjects: The target population was medics, including nurses, doctors, and paramedics, operating in remote worksites in 44 countries.

Intervention: The intervention was a series of campaign tool kits. The tool kits were adapted to the remote environment and could be customized for culture, language, and education level.

Measures: The survey assessed frequency of health promotion activities, satisfaction with the intervention, and barriers to implementation.

Analysis: Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and χ(2) tests. Interview results were coded to identify themes.

Results: Most medics (88%) in the intervention group reported running "tool box talks" (short education sessions) on at least a monthly basis, compared with 78% in the comparison group (p  =  .056). The trend was similar for displaying posters (71% vs. 55%; p  =  .021) and advocating for policy changes (84% vs. 71%; p  =  .027). Medic satisfaction was high. Difficulty distributing tool kits was the main barrier to implementation.

Conclusions: When provided with appropriate tools, medics may be an ideal channel for health promotion in remote worksites.