SPL13 MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PHYSICIANS PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

Global changes in all spheres of social life, including its socio-economic side and general informatization, leading to new forms of development of the global labor market, make it necessary to search for more modern mechanisms for regulating and using labor resources. The labor market is irrevocably transformed into a qualifications market, based on the professional competencies acquired by the specialist. The system of occupational health physician professional competencies is the primacy of providing qualified medical care and workers` health protecting, and this system transformation is formed on the historical periodization basis of hygienic and clinical knowledge development and the improvement of expert decisions in the structure of the disease with the profession relationship, assessment of work ability, the risk of disease developing and early diagnosis of socially significant forms of pathology among workers in harmful and dangerous labor conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has expanded old ones and set new ones for the occupational health physician, determining the availability of additional and more in-depth knowledge in his work activity. The occupational health physician labor functions analysis was carried out using the following methods: medico-sociological, scientometric, questionnaire survey and personalized opinion of occupational health specialists. The results analysis indicates the different significance of competencies, the need to expand knowledge on occupational and infectious diseases epidemiology, the factor hygienic assessment, and disease-occupation relationship. 80% of respondents prioritized the examination of the disease-occupation relationship: the ability to analyze medical records, knowledge of the procedure for conducting an examination based on the submitted documents and examination results. 60% of respondents consider it important: identification of factors exposure early signs and occupational diseases initial forms; knowledge the workers` health protection field legislation; justification of the decision in the examination of professional suitability; formulation of the final diagnosis of an occupational disease in accordance with the legislation, the ICD and the Occupational Diseases List. Occupational health physicians professional competencies differ significantly from specialists in other medical fields due to the high expenditure of time and knowledge on expert-analytical assessment of the working environment and the labor process factors in conjunction with the need for modern diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the field of therapy, neurology, pulmonology, otorhinolaryngology, dermatology by the need to interact with specialists in various medical and social fields. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the need for broader knowledge of the occupational health physicians in the field of the occurrence of occupational diseases under the influence of a biological factor, their spread, diagnosis, treatment, and most importantly, an expert assessment of the connection between the disease and the factor, a clearer algorithm for the physician’s often immediate actions to assist the employee. According to experts, the occupational health physician competencies significance is approximately equal, highlighting only the priority issues of examination of occupational suitability and disease-occupation relationship. The activities of an occupational pathologist include a large number of professional competencies, which requires expanding his theoretical and practical knowledge through changes in specialized medical education and further postgraduate training.