Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on October 27, 2006
Occupational Medicine 2007 57(2):141-144; doi:10.1093/occmed/kql108
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Short Reports |
Work activity analysis of Finnish occupational health professionals
1 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, PO Box 93, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland
2 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Hämeenkatu 10, FI-20500 Turku, Finland
Correspondence to: Paula Naumanen, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, PO Box 93, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland. Tel: +358 30 4747470; fax: +358 30 4747474; e-mail: paula.naumanen{at}ttl.fi
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Abstract |
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Background Some Finnish studies have dealt with how occupational health nurses divide their working hours but other occupational health professionals have not been evaluated.
Aims This study describes how occupational health professionals allocate their working hours between main tasks.
Methods Questionnaires were sent to 250 occupational health professionals, of whom 176 (70%) returned the completed forms. The data were analysed by using frequencies, means and one-way analysis of variance test.
Results Employee-oriented tasks accounted for roughly 50% of working hours from all occupational health professionals. The remaining working hours were shared between workplace visits, co-operation with partners, other occupational health care responsibilities and tasks in other health care fields, especially in the health care centres. These working hours varied greatly between the different occupational health professional groups. All units employed full-time occupational health nurses, but the services of physicians, physiotherapists and psychologists were usually provided part-time or even restricted to a few hours each week because these services were difficult to obtain. Occupational health nurses working in the municipal health care centres spent more time on workplace visits than other nurses. Employee-oriented tasks were emphasized more in physicians', physiotherapists' and psychologists' work, especially in private medical health care units and in the jointly owned health care units.
Conclusions The amount of time occupational health professionals are able to spend on workplace activities appears to be determined by the type of their employer.
Keywords Occupational health professionals; primary prevention; working hours; workplace health promotion
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Introduction |
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In Finland, three studies have investigated the working hours of occupational health nurses but no studies were found of how other occupational health professionals divide their working hours. Earlier studies showed that Finnish occupational health nurses spent more time on primary preventive and nursing activities in 2005 than in 1992. In 1992, about one in every four working hours was devoted to preventive functions, such as health examinations, workplace visits, collaboration and counselling. They also spent 15% of their time on nursing tasks and 60% performing other duties [1]. In 2000, they spent 55% of their working hours doing preventive work, 27% nursing and 18% other duties [2] and by 2005, preventive activities accounted for 64% of their time, 31% was taken up in nursing and 5% in other tasks [3].
In 2000, Finnish occupational health nurses spent 48% of their work time with employees, 18% with workplaces, 11% with collaborative partners, 16% in administrative and office work and 7% in other duties. Nurses in enterprise-owned units spent less time on workplace visits compared to nurses working in other units [2]. The differences between occupational health professional groups vary extensively. Occupational health nurses working in enterprise-owned units made eight times more visits to the workplaces than nurses in jointly-owned units, 10 times more often than nurses in municipal health care centres and nearly 20 times more often than nurses in private medical units. Physicians in all types of occupational health care service units made much fewer workplace visits than nurses [4]. In Sweden, the treatment of patients accounted for 
33% of the physiotherapists' working time. They spent only 6% of their time on continuing education and development of work, whereas other occupational tasks took up 38% of their working hours. Transport, breaks and occasional days or hours off work accounted for about a quarter of their time [5]. Danish occupational physicians were mostly engaged in a part-time capacity; most of them for <10 h a week [6].
The aim of this study was to describe the division of working hours between the main tasks from the perspective of Finnish occupational health professionals.
In 2005, structured pre-tested questionnaires were sent to randomly selected 250 (25%, n = 946) Finnish occupational health care units (representing different organization types of units in the same relation as they were in the registry of units), of whom 176 (70%) returned the completed forms. The majority of respondents (98%) were occupational health nurses, 93% specialized in occupational health and 80% were full-time. Respondents assessed as percentages working hours spent on employee-oriented tasks, workplace visits, administrative and office duties, co-operation with various copartners and other responsibilities both in occupational health care and in other types of health care together with their colleagues or on behalf of them (Table 1). In terms of the type of health service unit, 37% were municipal health care centres, 31% were enterprise owned units, 8% jointly owned and 23% private medical centres.
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The majority of occupational nurses (81%) were engaged full-time in the occupational health care field. About 55% of their working hours were spent on employee-oriented tasks, 12% on worksite visits, 13% on administrative and office work, 8% on collaboration with partners, 6% on other occupational health responsibilities and 6% on tasks in other health care field. Significantly more time was accounted for by workplace visits in the municipal health care centres (F = 3.04, df = 4,169, P = 0.019) than in other units.
About 90% of units had at least one occupational physician. Respondents commented that most of the physicians worked <10 h each week in the occupational health care units, especially in the municipal health care centres. Their working hours in occupational health care were divided into employee-oriented tasks (64%), workplace visits (7%), occupational administrative and office work (6%), collaborative functions with partners (6%), other occupational health care responsibilities (3%) and responsibilities in other health care field (15%), especially in the municipal health care centres. Occupational physicians recorded significantly more time on employee-oriented tasks in private medical centres (F = 2.99, df = 4,153, P = 0.021) than in other units. Significantly more time was also spent on co-operation with partners in the jointly owned health care units (F = 3.25, df = 4,153, P = 0.014) than in other units. Physicians working in the health care centres worked significantly more in other areas of health care (F = 4.14, df = 4,153, P = 0.003) than their colleagues in other units.
About 74% of occupational health care service units had one occupational physiotherapist. The participants commented that the physiotherapists worked between 1 and 5 days each week in occupational health care. These hours were spent mainly on employee-oriented activities (43%) and worksite visits (23%). Each week administrative and office work accounted for 6%, co-operation with partners for 6%, other occupational health care responsibilities for 3% and responsibilities in other health care field for 15% of their working hours. Significantly more time was spent with employee-oriented tasks in jointly owned health care units (F = 4.37, df = 4,96, P = 0.003), whereas work in the other health care field accounted for more time in health care centres (F = 5.62, df = 4,95, P < 0.001) than in other types of units.
About 23% of occupational health service units provided limited occupational psychological services, i.e. 1 day/month or a couple of hours each week. Psychologists spent their working time mainly in employee-oriented tasks (48%) and worksite visits (20%). Less time was accounted for administrative and office tasks (4%), co-operation with partners (7%) and other occupational responsibilities (3%). Responsibilities in other health care field took up 18% of the psychologists' weekly working hours. Psychologists in private medical health care units worked significantly more with individuals (F = 6.25, df = 4,28, P = 0.001) than their counterparts in other units. Significantly more time was spent on working in other areas of health care in health care centres (F = 4.05, df = 4,28, P = 0.010) than in other units.
These findings reveal that Finnish occupational health services are based mostly on the activities of nurses. All occupational health professionals allocate more time to dealing with individuals than to workplace activities [1–5]. The majority of physicians, physiotherapists and psychologists can treat only urgent cases, because they share their working hours between occupational health care and some other areas of health care, and many units have limited or non-existent services because of lack of professional resources in the units.
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Conflicts of interest |
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TopAbstractIntroductionConflicts of interestReferences |
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None declared
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References |
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TopAbstractIntroductionConflicts of interestReferences |
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- Peurala M, Notkola V, Kankaanpää E. (1997) Job description and population-centred approach of occupational health nurse. In Notkola V (Ed.). Population-Centred Approach and Occupational Health Care. Work and People(Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Research Report 11. Helsinki, Finland) pp. 47–69.
- Naumanen-Tuomela P. (2001) The Expertise of Occupational Health Nurses among Working Age Health Promotion in Changing Society(University of Kuopio, University Kuopio Publications E. Social Sciences 88. Dissertation. Kuopio, Finland).
- Lehtola M. (2005) Occupational health professionals' activities and chemical hazards. In Vainio M (Ed.). Chemicals and Work. Report from Chemical Risks of Work Environment(Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland) pp. 301–309.
- In Räsänen K (Ed.). Occupational Health Care in Finland in 2000 (2002) (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Helsinki, Finland) pp. 41–43.
- Bergman B. (1988) Work sampling: the way in which physiotherapists utilise their working hours. Scand J Caring Sci 2:155–162.[Medline]
- von Bulow BA. (1995) Physicians' tasks in the Occupational Health Services. Ugeskr Laeger 157:1340–1344.[Medline]
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