Practical strategies and tools for use by occupational and environmental medicine departments during COVID-19 pandemic surges
Guo, Andrew H. ; Diaz-Caturan, Ma Visimee ; Reis, Cesar ; Carritte, Deborah ; Smith, Brad M.T. ; Wester, Yann O. ; Hall, Susan L.
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
2022
64
1
10-18
epidemic disease ; disease control ; occupational health service
Occupational safety and health
https://doi.org/doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002390
English
Bibliogr.
"Objectives:
Occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) departments in healthcare institutions can be quickly overwhelmed when COVID-19 infection rates rapidly and simultaneously increase in the workforce and the patients served. Our goal is to present a detailed toolkit of practical approaches for use by front-line OEM specialists to address workforce management tasks during pandemic surges.
Methods:
Specific focus is on tasks related to employee symptom triage, exposure risk assessment, workplace contact tracing, and work restrictions.
Results:
Tools include strategies used by customer call centers, two decision support algorithms (exposure due to cohabitation or non-cohabitation), a color-coded employee case tracking tool, a contact tracing protocol, and documentation templates that serve as memory aids for encounters.
Conclusions:
These tools are created with commonly used software. Implementation is feasible in most front-line OEM settings, including those with limited resources."
Digital
The ETUI is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ETUI.