English version - Fit for Work Europe

• Conduct workforce planning in the medical profession to establish if it will have
sufficient clinical staff (eg rheumatologists, physiotherapists) to accommodate the
projected growth in MSDs as the population, and the workforce, ages. Medical training
at all levels, from undergraduate to continuing professional development would benefit
from inclusion of health and work issues, especially if the health of the working age
population is set to deteriorate.
• Raise employers’ awareness of the impact of MSDs on their employees both in
blue-collar and white-collar occupations. Consider incentives that would stimulate a
pro-active approach towards management of MSDs in the workplace. This could be
integrated into the current occupational health check system. Incentivise employers to
support MSD patients in returning to work.
• Aim to raise employees’ awareness of the importance of the timely disclosure.
National health campaigns and patient support programmes are tested mechanisms of
improving awareness of workplace risks and norms of effective management of MSDs.
• Promote education for physicians and nurses (undergraduate, postgraduate and
specialist education) and for patients (in the areas of pain treatment and self-control
of pain), based on the latest methods of diagnosis and treatment. In particular, require
education on the proper medical use of controlled substances that are used to manage
chronic pain.
• Consider ways to optimise the health care system for managing MSDs, including
revision of the national health insurance reimbursement system, such as additional
reimbursement for MSDs and modification of the current reimbursement schedule.
Develop a chronic pain control system across primary care (clinicians in general
hospitals), secondary care (multidisciplinary pain care teams, including nurses at core
hospitals), and tertiary care services (specialised pain centres).
• Continue, and improve promotion of, the theme of purposeful life through diverse jobs,
for example, as provided through the Silver Human Resource Centre programme. 18
• Improve the quality of work of occupational physicians, establish a peer-review system
of occupational physicians, where they could share and learn from best practice
examples with a view to implement those in their own organisations.
18 See http://longevity.ilcjapan.org/f_issues/0702.html
MSDs and government
Fit For Work? Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Japanese Labour Market 37