Research Plus

Workers’ health monitoring

A systematic review of job-specific health monitoring activities used in the ambulance, fire, police and armed services found 31 relevant papers. Twenty-one studied physical health monitoring, including task-simulation tests – such as stair climbing in fire fighters – visual acuity and cardiovascular tests, and three looked at psychological health surveillance. Seven studies (four randomised-controlled trials) addressed health monitoring to measure the impact of a health intervention, such as fitness changes following an exercise programme for ambulance personnel, trauma resilience in the police following training, and healthy lifestyle promotion in firefighters. Methodological quality varied from 41% to 76% of the maximum score.

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 2011; online first: doi 10.1007/s00420-011-0614-y

Tags emergency services evidence based practice

Occupational Health at Work June/July 2011 (vol. 08/1) pp40