The expertise of disability and occupational morbidity in working-age people

Abstract

Introduction. The occupational morbidity and disability are acute problems of society, being a major reason of work capacity reduction. According to WHO, more than 1 billion people in the world suffer from disability. More than 184 thousand people with disabilities are registered in Republic of Moldova. People with disabilities are 2-3 times less employed than others. They face with discrimination and social integration problems. This situation can be fixed through mutual exertion of society and state institutions. Aim of the study. Study of occupational morbidity and disability expertise on working-age people. Materials and methods. The bibliographic, mathematical, statistical, sociological and analytical methods have been applied. A cross-sectional, qualitative descriptive study has been done and there was organized an anonymous questionnaire of doctors from Councils of Disability and Work Capacity Determination on expertise methodology of work capacity loss in economically active population. The investigation data was processed with IBM SPSS Statistic 20 and Word- Excel programs. Parametric and non-parametric validity tests (p, t, DS, x2) were applied. Results. In the qualitative descriptive study, 30 expert doctors were interviewed, which is the total number of doctors from 9 councils in Chisinau. 14.43 ± 0.99 people (DS = 5.45) are examined per day. 24 (80.0%) interviewed doctors responded that they had never attended courses on occupational health. During the last year, 9 (30.0%) doctors suspected cases of occupational diseases in examined persons. The average number of suspected occupational diseases in the past year is 7.0 ± 1.51 cases (DS - 4.27). Expert doctors appreciated the cooperation with Republican Center for Occupational Diseases as follows: 23.3% (7) - good; 6.3% (2) - satisfactory; 3,3% (1) - unsatisfactory; 66.7% (20) - nonexistent. Counseling of examined people on professional rehabilitation is informally accomplished by expert doctors. Only 22 (73.3%) doctors responded that they counseled people on professional rehabilitation. Conclusions. In Republic of Moldova, there are high reserves in the notification, diagnosis and investigation of occupational diseases cases at all levels. There is a need to start a ministry program to improve disability determination services and occupational diseases surveillance, to involve all structures, starting with primary and specialized health care, Councils of Disability and Work Capacity Determination and Republican Center for Occupational Diseases. It is also necessary to revise legislation in the field, to create manuals on work capacity expertise and occupational diseases diagnosis for physicians, expert doctors etc.