Target Audience: This course is designed to change physician and other health care provider competence in the prevention, diagnosis, and evaluation of work-induced or exacerbated injuries and illnesses. The course is valuable for occupational medicine practitioners, primary care physicians who may see patients with work-related disorders, occupational health nurses, and anyone involved with the worker s compensation system.
Needs Assessment: This course provides up-to-date information on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of occupational injuries and illnesses. New diagnostic tools will be presented for disorders that may be caused or exacerbated by work, and for diagnoses that may impair a worker s ability to perform usual work activities. The course is knowledge-based and designed to change physician performance in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of work-induced disease or impairments that affect work ability. This includes the recognition and/or management of musculoskeletal disorders, neurologic dysfunction, substance abuse, vision loss, respiratory and heart disease. This year s daylong conference will specifi cally address these identifi ed educational needs and provide practitioners with state-of-the-art tools to improve the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment options for their patients. Faculty presenting and interacting with participants at this activity have been selected on the basis of their comprehensive clinical experience and academic excellence.
Educational Objectives: - Describe the precarious worker and other contributing causes of increased occupational illness and injury among immigrants
- List the American Heart Association Guidelines for Heart Disease Prevention and Treatment in Women
- Discuss simple cultural awareness of injury causation and effective tools for preventing most injuries
- Describe an outline strategy for how clinicians can work cooperatively with the claims administrators and employers to facilitate recovery
- Name areas where occupational medicine practice will likely be different after national health care reform
- Explain the toxicological evidence for potential health effects of diesel emissions
- List potential ways in which biomarker technology might improve therapeutic intervention of traumatic brain injury
- Describe frequently encountered workplace related eye problems
- Discuss a plan of injury management that incorporates safe and effective treatment
- Explain key preparedness factors that have been identified through California s natural disaster experiences
