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Asbestos disease screening by non-specialists: results of an evaluation.

Asbestos disease screening by non-specialists: results of an evaluation. Asbestos disease screening by non-specialists: results of an evaluation. S Zoloth , D Michaels , M Lacher , D Nagin and E Drucker We performed a medical audit of an asbestos disease screening program offered to New York City sheet metal workers by a corporate medical service. The screening program purported to evaluate the health status of workers exposed to asbestos in the past and present during construction and renovation of commercial buildings. Using current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations as a benchmark, medical records for more than 800 workers who took the examination between 1982-83 were reviewed; x-ray interpretations of the staff radiologist were compared with the interpretations of specialists in occupational lung diseases. The audit found inadequate record-keeping procedures, a lack of a comprehensive occupational history, poor notification and absence of any form of health education. Further, there was an extreme lack of concordance between the staff radiologist and the specialist readers in the interpretation of x-rays (kappa = .14 for pleural disease and .26 for asbestosis). To an increasing extent, occupational clinical services are being provided by corporate medical groups; such groups may not be familiar with occupational health problems. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Public Health American Public Health Association

Asbestos disease screening by non-specialists: results of an evaluation.

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Publisher
American Public Health Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by the American Public Health Association
ISSN
0090-0036
eISSN
1541-0048
DOI
10.2105/AJPH.76.12.1392
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Asbestos disease screening by non-specialists: results of an evaluation. S Zoloth , D Michaels , M Lacher , D Nagin and E Drucker We performed a medical audit of an asbestos disease screening program offered to New York City sheet metal workers by a corporate medical service. The screening program purported to evaluate the health status of workers exposed to asbestos in the past and present during construction and renovation of commercial buildings. Using current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations as a benchmark, medical records for more than 800 workers who took the examination between 1982-83 were reviewed; x-ray interpretations of the staff radiologist were compared with the interpretations of specialists in occupational lung diseases. The audit found inadequate record-keeping procedures, a lack of a comprehensive occupational history, poor notification and absence of any form of health education. Further, there was an extreme lack of concordance between the staff radiologist and the specialist readers in the interpretation of x-rays (kappa = .14 for pleural disease and .26 for asbestosis). To an increasing extent, occupational clinical services are being provided by corporate medical groups; such groups may not be familiar with occupational health problems.

Journal

American Journal of Public HealthAmerican Public Health Association

Published: Dec 1, 1986

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