Changing Attitudes towards Occupational Medicine with Blended Learning Methods Is Possible among Medical Students in Spain: A Longitudinal Study

Medical students generally express a low interest in Occupational Medicine. We aimed to assess the attitudes and changes in attitudes of students towards this area after completing a course on Occupational Medicine in two Medical Universities in Spain (Zaragoza and Castilla-La Mancha). The teaching method included blended learning as a model that used online virtual patient platforms (CASUS) and/or EMUTOM, as well as traditional methods such as face-to-face teaching. A total of 526 students (98 of whom attended the University of Castilla-La Mancha) participated during three academic years (2015–2016, 2016–2017 and 2017–2018). The validation of the questionnaire was carried out using reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. For the analysis of internal consistency and discrimination, Cronbach’s alpha was used. The adequacy of the factor analysis was measured by means of KMO, and a correlation matrix was examined by means of Bartlett’s test of sphericity. To identify differences between students before and after completing the course, the Mann–Whitney U-test for independent samples was used. Our results show that despite a negative or neutral attitude towards Occupational Medicine, the acquisition of competences and skills in this area and their training were recognized as fundamental for their future professional performance as doctors in any specialty.

Returning safely to work after long COVID

Society of Occupational Medicine

LETTER TO THE EDITOR CONCERNING STEVELINK ET AL. (2021): “CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME AND OCCUPATIONAL STATUS: A RETROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDY”

Occupational Medicine recently published a paper from Stevelink et al. (2021) called “Chronic fatigue syndrome and occupational status: a retrospective longitudinal study.” Unfortunately, the paper features major technical and methodological errors that warrant urgent editorial attention.

Problems of evidence in occupational medicine

We devoted this article to the problem of causation and evaluation of causality associations in the occupational epidemiology, exposure assessment, occupational health, and industrial medicine using methodological approaches of clinical epidemiology, for which the term "evidence-based medicine" is wider used in the Russian Federation. The researchers paid some attention to the historical aspects of causality assessment in occupational medicine in the Russian Federation. The authors discuss the issues of evidence in occupational medicine, planning, and implementation of epidemiological studies in occupational therapy using specialized questionnaires and clinical, functional, molecular, and genetic techniques. We analyzed the concept of the "risk factor" of the disease along with the organizational and methodological bases of assessment and management of occupational risks in industrial medicine. The paper also offers applied examples of the relative risk assessment, highlighting the advantages and perils of selected methods in a comparative analysis. Scientists have affected the contribution of systematic reviews aiming to mine evidence-based rationale in occupational epidemiology. The authors speculate and conclude on the importance of risk assessment in the overall morbidity reduction in occupational medicine through efficient prevention programs, along with the underpinnings to include work-related conditions in the national loss of occupational diseases.

Driver re-education after stroke - case study

The article presents the characteristics of a case study - stroke survivors with unilateral neglect syndrome, mechanisms used in re-education training and elements of functional rehabilitation. The focus was on an important diagnostic problem in the field of occupational medicine and the return to driving for people after stroke. The aim of the research work undertaken was to justify the experimental description of the driver after a stroke and to confirm the possibility of returning to driving, including compulsory re-education. Literature analysis, review of legal acts, characteristics of adaptation devices and conclusions from the case study were also carried out.