- Faculty of Occupational Medicine - https://www.fom.ac.uk -

Competency 4 – Maintaining relationship with patients:Maintain an independent position

Objective: to ensure the appreciation of the professional position of the OH advisor, employer and employees

SKILLS

MAINTAIN AN INDEPENDENT POSITION

The dual responsibility of an occupational health doctor requires them to be explicit in outlining their roles and responsibilities within an organisation. The occupational health doctor is an independent professional advisor, concerned with the health of the employees providing advice or opinions that are honest, based as far as possible on fact, and not on prejudice, financial inducement or the wishes of a third party.

This can be highlighted and reinforced by means of the following exercises:

Exercise 1

  1. You have been asked as an occupational health doctor to provide an opinion on a potential employee for the position of a forklift driver in a small company (20 employees) that produces windscreen wipers. During the examination you note that the individual is colour blind. Discuss the following:

Question 1

Answer

Question 2

Answer

Question 3

Answer

Exercise 2

As an occupational health doctor you have been asked to see an employee who has been absent from work for 3 weeks with back pain. The individual works as a receptionist in medium size (50 employees) company.

Question 1

Answer

Question 2

Answer

The Employer:

  1. May consider the occupational health doctor like his GP and expect the same therapeutic relationship with him or her.
  2. May consider the occupational health doctor as an advocate for the employer with no duty of confidentiality to the employee.

The Employee:

  1. May believe that the occupational health doctor was able to fully inform the employer on all clinical information relating to employees.
  2. May perceive an occupational health doctor as part of the management team and was used as tool by management in sickness absence management

Question 3

How can the role of the occupational health doctor be made clear to the employer and employee?

Answer

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