Skin disease in health care workers

It has been aptly noted by Samitz that the practice of occupational dermatology, in its widest sense, is a specialty within a specialty, because the physician must be something of a dermatologist, an engineer, a chemist, and an expert in labor relations, insurance regulations, and the medicolegal aspects of the problem. This is particularly true in the health care environment. So it is most valuable to bear in mind that the cause of occupational skin disease among health care workers must be sought in the medical setting. Treatment and prevention of the illness depends upon an accurate knowledge of the occupational background of the worker-patient and an effort to modify or change the causal exposure factors.