[Occupational anamnesis in primary care medicine: presentation of a screening questionnaire for health problems...

A brief screening questionnaire has been administered to 791 patients consulting a primary health care physician, to discover job-related health problems. Among the 791 patients, 43 percent estimate subjectively that their job has an unfavorable influence on their health. The study participants were patients from the general consultation of the outpatient department of the medical universitary policlinic of Lausanne and from 10 private medical practices in the french part of Switzerland. Among the 791 patients, 401 were interviewed seconderly in a more detailed questionnaire. These questionnaires were evaluated by 3 reviewers of the Institute of Occupational Health Sciences. 25 percent (one of four patient) was identified for having a job-related health problem. For the primary health care physician, the question is: how to manage such job-related problems and how to orient patient to use the adequate services and institutions.