[Health promotion activities of occupational medicine physicians at the workplace].
BACKGROUND
The authors address the issue of workplace health promotion (WHP) activities among occupational medicine physicians in Poland. In the analysis performed the provisions of the Occupational Health Services Act as well as the conclusions inferred from the most recent WHP survey were taken into account.


METHODS
The data presented in this paper result from the 2002 survey carried out by the National Centre for Workplace Health Promotion on a random sample of 325 occupational medicine physicians.


RESULTS
The survey revealed that occupational medicine physicians mostly prefer individual-oriented activities such as health education of individual patients during medical examinations (86%), typically medical interventions like vaccinations (71%), or comprehensive medical checkups (53%). A modern concept of the WHP-related activities is not so popular. For example, health education for large groups of employees is undertaken by 16% of physicians, comprehensive health-related behavior-modification programs by 7%, and projects with the participation of local communities by only 3%.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of occupational medicine physicians do not implement the workplace health promotion in line with the modern concept of activities in this domain. They focus more on health education and medical prophylactics. There is a need to provide this group of physicians with a comprehensive training to develop their skills to initiate and coordinate setting-oriented projects and thus advance their activities in this field.
Pyzalski
Jacek
J
Zakładu Organizacji Ochrony Zdrowia, Instytutu Medycyny Pracy im. J. Nofera w Lodzi.
Wojtaszczyk
Patrycja
P
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D010819:Physician's Role; D011044:Poland; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace