ABSTRACT
This chapter describes medical management of cases of occupational poisoning. Bernardino Ramazzini himself was a professor of internal medicine at different times in the universities of Padua and Modena in Italy. Occupational medicine focuses on the prevention, diagnosis and management of occupational injuries and diseases, including health surveillance. Occupational medicine should be regarded as an extension of the work of a basic practitioner. The medical doctor needs to have at least a reasonable level of competence in general medicine to diagnose and manage toxicological problems. The role of the physician for workers exposed to chemicals involves medical examination and diagnosis and management of chemical intoxication. Often toxicological problems may fall between different areas of internal medicine because such problems may affect several organ systems in the same case; ‘general’ internal medicine has lost prestige and become rather unfashionable in many developed countries.
