Regulated pre-employment medical examinations and their effect on the utilization of health services: the experience of 1,498 police cadets, Quebec, 1988.
Persons seeking employment in a police department must submit to a pre-induction medical screening after they have qualified on a compulsory test of physical stamina. The effect of this imposition on the utilization of health services was studied in a group of 1,498 police cadets whose use of medical and optometric services was monitored over a period of one year and compared with that of the general population of the same age and sex. Cadets have used about as much care as women of child-bearing age and were almost all exposed to physiological and radiological procedures that have no known utility in the medical surveillance of workers. It is estimated that the cost of providing the protection that is apparently sought by the regulation varies between $6,285 and $66,000 per person.
Turcotte
F
F
Département de médecine sociale et préventive, Université Laval, Québec.
Lagassé
P
P
Prud'homme
D
D
Gendron
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007586:Job Application; D008297:Male; D009907:Optometry; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000191:economics; D016495:Police; D011792:Quebec