Assessing fitness for work: GPs judgment making.

Eur J Gen Pract

Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health Research, University of Manchester, Manchester , UK.

Published: December 2013

Background: The complexity of a fitness for work consultation is well documented. General practitioners (GPs) find that such consultations often create conflict and they feel ill-prepared for the task.

Objectives: We aimed to examine the consultation process in the fitness for work consultation and to report on the response of GPs to two hypothetical consultations of work related sickness absence, one of a psychological and one of a physical nature.

Methods: Three areas of the consultation were examined; social/family circumstances, workplace history and information required assessing the severity of the condition. We used a randomized design using an online questionnaire completed by 62 GPs located in the Republic of Ireland. Analysis was conducted in NVivo 8 qualitative software using thematic and content analysis techniques.

Results: GPs may be expected to collect and consider information relating to social, domestic, financial, lifestyle and workplace factors, including workload, job satisfaction, job strain, work ethic, inter staff relationships and employee support mechanisms. The mode of presentation may trigger specific information seeking in the consultation.

Conclusion: GPs may evaluate fitness for work in a variety of ways depending on medical and non-medical factors. Further research should further examine the factors that may influence the GPs decision to prescribe sickness leave.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/13814788.2013.786037DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

fitness work
16
work consultation
8
gps
7
work
6
assessing fitness
4
work gps
4
gps judgment
4
judgment making
4
making background
4
background complexity
4

Similar Publications

Exploring the therapeutic potential of glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists in metabolic disorders.

World J Gastroenterol

January 2025

School of Health Sciences, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Logroño 26006, La Rioja, Spain.

This article comments on the work by Soresi and Giannitrapani. The authors have stated that one of the most novel and promising treatments for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists, especially when used in combination therapy. However, despite their notable efficacy, these drugs were not initially designed to target MASLD directly.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The effect of musculoskeletal system disorders in female office workers.

Int J Occup Saf Ergon

January 2025

Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Süleyman Demirel University, Turkey.

. This study aimed to analyze the effects of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on the work performance, musculoskeletal fitness and quality of life of female office workers employed at a university. .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's economy has experienced rapid growth, resulting in a steady improvement in its citizens' living standards. However, alongside the emergence of modern civilization-related health issues, the overall physical fitness of the population has been declining. In the final year of 2019, a global COVID-19 pandemic emerged and persisted for three years, causing a significant diminution in human physical well-being.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Workplace health screening rarely includes measures of cardiorespiratory fitness, despite it being a greater predictor of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality than other routinely measured risk factors. This study aimed to determine the comparative acceptability of using a novel seismocardiography device to measure cardiorespiratory fitness via VO max during a workplace health check.

Methods: Participants were invited to participate in workplace health screening sessions where VO max was assessed by both seismocardiography at rest and sub-maximal exercise testing, in order for acceptability of both to be compared across multiple domains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In infected hosts, immune responses trigger a systemic energy reallocation away from energy storage and growth, to fuel a costly defense program. The exact energy costs of immune defense are however unknown in general. Life history theory predicts that such costs underpin trade-offs between host disease resistance and other fitness related traits, yet this has been seldom assessed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!