Past Or Present Job

A Past or Present Occupation Observation is a clinical statement about the type of work done by a person in a job, as reported by that person. It includes a set of self-reported, related observations that remain associated with one-another to characterize the job and provide clinically-relevant information. It also can be used in a minor's record for the job(s) of people who share a home with the person (see optional related subject). A job is defined as a work situation, training position, or (potentially clinically-relevant) volunteer position held for a specified time period; for a given job, updates to Job Occupation, Past or Present Industry (Job Industry), Supervisory Level, or Employer would constitute a new job or volunteer position. A person can have more than one job at the same time and multiple jobs over time.

Knowledge about a person's job(s) informs diagnosis and management of illness and injury; it also informs management of health in the work environment, regardless of whether a condition is work-related. While knowing about a person's current job(s) is likely to be most important, some work-related health conditions can manifest after a long latency so a history of jobs can also provide valuable information. This set of related Job observations also can provide information for public health to locate infectious disease outbreaks and intervene to prevent further illness. Public health can also use these data to analyze work-related conditions such as silicosis, pesticide poisoning, and some types of cancer to identify Occupations, Industry sectors and Employers for whom interventions are needed to mitigate risk.