MCN encourages healthcare providers to respond to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) request for information to assess the feasibility of including occupational information in electronic health records (EHRs). The request for information, published in the Federal Register, solicits responses to several questions to determine how primary care providers collect and use occupational information in clinical settings.If you are a healthcare provider, we encourage you to submit a response.Your input and perspective will be extremely valuable as NIOSH moves forward to provide advice to organizations establishing EHR criteria on the collection, use and storage of patients’ work information. The complete list of questions is outlined in Section II of the request. Go here to view NIOSH's full request for information and instructions for submitting comments.Below are just a few of the questions to which NIOSH is soliciting responses:
- For providers of primary health care: When do the clinicians in your practice setting currently ask patients about their work?
- In your clinical practice, who (which personnel) besides the clinicians collect patients' work information (e.g., registration personnel or nursing assistants)?
- Have those personnel been trained specifically in how to collect information about patient's work i.e., how to gain an accurate job title etc.?
- Do you collect work information from teenagers?
- How is work information used to inform patient care?
The deadline to submit responses is August 27, 2012. Please contact Virginia Ruiz (vruiz@farmworkerjustice.org) or Alexis Guild (aguild@farmworkerjustice.org) at Farmworker Justice if you have any addtional questions.