[Psychiatric support of healthcare workers undergoing periodic health assessment].
BACKGROUND
An integrated mental health surveillance program was developed by the department of occupational medicine at S. Chiara University Hospital in Pisa, Italy, in order to better assist and treat hospital staff suffering from psychiatric disorders in a preventive medical setting.


METHODS
During the occupational medical surveillance of 4000 employees of S. Chiara Hospital in Pisa (Italy), 30 health care workers with psychiatric disorders were included in our program, which provided psycho-educational support and pharmacological treatment. Measures of effectiveness were: Clinical Global Impression (CGI scale) and a comparison between the average number of lost workdays due to mental illness before and after treatment.


RESULTS
At the end of the observation period there was a decrease in the CGI severity score with a improved CGI score ranging from 1 to 2 and a reduction in absenteeism, from an annual average of 36.70 to 25.10 lost workdays.


CONCLUSIONS
Our outcome measures data seem to indicate that a preventive medicine setting can offer effective psychiatric support that is better accepted and tolerated by health care workers and that this approach may reduce absenteeism.
Buselli
R
R
Unità Operativa di Medicina Preventiva del Lavoro, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Italia. r.buselli@ao-pisa.toscana.it
Pacciardi
B
B
Gonnelli
C
C
Novi
M
M
Gattini
V
V
Guglielmi
G
G
Foddis
R
R
Mignani
A
A
Cristaudo
A
A
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs