Adam Moskowitz, a recent PhD graduate of the Occupational Health Services Research and Policy program, received first place in the student poster competition at the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) conference in Marrakesh, Morocco.
ICOH 2024 was held April 28 – May 4, 2024 in Marrakesh, Morocco, with a theme of “Enhancing Occupational Health Research and Practices: Closing the Gap!”. The annual conference brings together experts, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from around the globe to exchange ideas, share experiences, and chart the course for the future of occupational health. The event provides multiple opportunities for engagement and sharing research and information, including multiple plenary and semi plenary sessions, special, oral and e-posters sessions, and discussions, facilitated by some of the foremost experts and thought leaders in the field.
Adam’s poster, Occupational injury from patient handling and workplace violence at residential disability and mental health facilities, presented findings from his dissertation chapter on occupational injury stemming from physical contact between workers and clients in residential group homes.
Our Center’s communications coordinator asked Adam to share his research and reflect on his experience. Here is what he had to say:
MCOHS: Tell us a little more about your research project.
Adam: This issue is usually described very opaquely in the way that these injuries are coded in surveillance systems, but for this project we were able to read narrative injury descriptions that were included in workers’ compensation claims. We coded these descriptions to see if each worker’s injury was caused by moving or physically assisting a client, an incident of workplace violence involving a client, or some mix of the two.
MCOHS: What were your findings?
Adam: We found that workplace violence was extremely prevalent, with evidence of it in about 1/3 of all injury claims, but claims that stemmed exclusively from moving and assisting clients were significantly more costly and more likely to require medical time off from work. Unlike hospitals and nursing homes, group homes are generally not considered traditional healthcare settings and therefore aren’t targeted for Safe Patient Handling and Mobility regulations, which are designed to protect healthcare workers from this type of physical injury.
MCOHS: What was your experience at the ICOH Conference?
Adam: The ICOH conference in Morocco was an amazing experience. In a globalized world where goods and labor transcend borders, we all need to be thinking about the human costs of our supply chains on workers’ health everywhere. It’s good to know and be a part of an international community of researchers working to improve these systems.
Congratulations, Adam, on your first place poster award!
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