JOEM: Practical Strategies and Tools for Use by Occupational...(Jan 2022)-JOEM: Practical Strategies and Tools for Use by Occupational...(Jan 2022)

JOEM: Practical Strategies and Tools for Use by Occupational...(Jan 2022)

Pdf Summary

The study presents practical strategies and tools for Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) departments to manage tasks during COVID-19 pandemic surges. The goal is to address workforce management tasks such as employee symptom triage, exposure risk assessment, workplace contact tracing, and work restrictions. The tools provided include customer call center strategies, decision support algorithms, a color-coded employee case tracking tool, a contact tracing protocol, and documentation templates. These tools are feasible to implement in front-line OEM settings with limited resources.<br /><br />The study also highlights the challenges faced by healthcare institutions during the pandemic, including shortages in frontline healthcare personnel and overwhelming OEM departments. The authors emphasize the importance of restricting infected employees from working and promptly returning them to work when it is safe to do so.<br /><br />The team-based care delivery model is introduced, where multiple clinicians provide care during the course of exposure or infection to ensure efficient care and contact tracing. Call center strategies, such as next available agent routing and universal agents, are used to manage employee calls and enhance workforce efficiency.<br /><br />The study includes two decision support algorithms that guide testing, monitoring, and work restriction decisions based on exposure due to cohabitation or non-cohabitation. These algorithms are designed to be easily modified based on updated expert recommendations.<br /><br />The Employee Case Repository spreadsheet is introduced as a means of tracking employees who have experienced exposure to the virus or are infected themselves. The repository allows multiple providers to enter and exchange information about individual cases efficiently.<br /><br />Document templates are provided to ensure consistent and thorough documentation during employee encounters. These templates serve as memory aids and can be easily updated as guidelines change.<br /><br />Overall, the study provides valuable tools and strategies for OEM departments to effectively manage workforce tasks during COVID-19 pandemic surges, with an emphasis on practicality and feasibility.

Keywords

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

COVID-19 pandemic

workforce management

employee symptom triage

exposure risk assessment

workplace contact tracing

customer call center strategies

decision support algorithms

color-coded employee case tracking tool

documentation templates