Occupational Health Services

Pre-Employment Medical Assessments

A good employer takes their duty of care toward their workforce seriously. This includes understanding the risks that staff might face in any given role. A pre-employment medical assessment is often used to assess an individual’s ability to safely perform the inherent requirements of a specified job. In addition, we can arrange for a physical functional assessment by a physiotherapist who is associated with our centre.

Pre-Employment Medical Assessments can include:

• Measurement of height, weight and body mass index (BMI)
• Vision assessment, including colour blindness
• Respiratory examination
• Urine analysis for diabetes or kidney / bladder disorders
• Cardiovascular examination (heart check, blood pressure, pulse)
• Medical Practitioner review of medical history
• Lung Function Testing
• Audiometry Testing
• Drug and Alcohol Screening
• Workplace Assessments

Drug & Alcohol Screening

The use of alcohol and drug screening in the workplace promotes a safe working environment for all, and can lead to greater productivity and improved morale for your workforce.

Drug and alcohol screening can help identify employees who may be putting themselves and others at risk in the workplace. This helps your company look after its employees’ well-being, but also can help further reduce staff sick leave, turnover and recruitment costs.

Another factor is the potential reduction of your legal liability and workers compensation claims. We aim to assist and support employers to maintain a safe workplace by providing drug and alcohol screening in a sensitive and professional manner.

Depending on your requirements, Modern Medical can provide drug and alcohol screening services in a range of formats such as Pre-Employment Medicals, Random Checks or ‘for cause’ checks. These can be conducted instantly or in a laboratory, depending on your requirements.

Services include:

• Urinary or oral fluid drug screening
• Gas chromatography – mass spectrometry
• (GCMS) confirmatory testing
• Indicative non-negative or negative results in drugs prohibited by law, including cocaine, marijuana, opiates and methamphetamines
• Tests to assist in identifying result tampering
• A self contained and integrated device that can easily be transported to pathology for confirmation services

Health Checks

A comprehensive health check allows our doctors and nurses to identify and keep on top of any medical issues before they start to cause your employees any problems. During these consultations, we can assess your employee’s risk of developing chronic illnesses based on factors such as family history and physical signs (e.g. high blood pressure).

Based on the confidential tests and assessments, we inform and educate your employee and their regular GP on how well their health is stacking up. From there, your employee together with their regular GP can then determine a plan to help them achieve their health goals for the next 12 months.

Health Checks available to suit your workplace’s needs and resources:

• Bronze          Basic Essentials Health Check 
• Silver             Comprehensive Health Check
• Gold               Full Comprehensive Health Check
• Platinum      Executive Level Complete Health Check

Benefits of Health Monitoring:

• early detection of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer
• improved workplace morale and culture
• reduced absenteeism
• improved staff retention
• increased productivity

Doctors at Modern Medical Corporate Health firmly believe in risk based assessments in individuals where there is strong evidence based medical research to support the performance of screening tests in individuals.

Our Health Assessments may include:

• lifestyle and questionnaire discussion
• resting blood pressure taken
• height, weight and body composition (BMI)
• pathology (cholesterol and triglycerides, full blood count, liver function test, fasting blood sugar and PSA - prostate blood tests are performed on male employees over 50 years of age)
• spirometry
• audiometry
• urine test (protein, blood and glucose)
• coronary (heart) risk percentile estimation
• appropriate counselling and referral
• health promotion literature
• discussion of general concerns
• discussion regarding further screening such as bowel cancer (Bowel Screening Kits are provided to employees over 50 years of age)
• a written report with copies of all results and the cardiovascular risk assessment will be provided to the participants
• a letter will be provided for the employee’s own doctor so that on-going follow up is facilitated
• skin check

Injury Prevention and Management

When an employee sustains an injury that renders them unable to perform their regular job duties, it is a problem both for the employee and the employer. The frequency of ‘lost time injuries’ is a common measure of an organisation’s safety performance that is often featured in annual reports.

We can help you to design, implement and monitor safety programs to help you minimise risks and enable staff to safely return to suitable employment following an injury.

Modern Medical utilises best practice information to develop programs that minimise both the personal and business risks of injuries. We tailor programs to suit your unique requirements with a focus on the successful return to work for the employee. We can conduct assessments at our clinics or at your site, ensuring minimal downtime and disruption to business operations.

One of our experienced and highly qualified Occupational Physicians can also come to your workplace. By providing educational presentations for your staff, we can actively assist in preventing injuries.

Injury and Prevention Services include:

• WorkCover
• Fitness for Duty Assessments
• Independent Medical Examinations
• Return to Work Programs and Clearances
• Presentations and Information Sessions
• Development and review of Policy and Procedure Documentation

Skin Checks

For those that have grown up in Australia, we should be aware of the dangers of over-exposure to harmful UV rays. We have heard of the basics of sun safety – slip, slop, slap, seek shade and slide on a pair of sunglasses – drilled into us from an early age. However, there is one more important step and that is scanning your body for the warning signs of skin cancer.

Offering your employees a regular skin check helps remove the hassle out of their lives and helps keep an eye out for early signs of skin cancer. Checking your skin regularly for signs of skin cancer is a vital step in early detection. Skin cancers can occur anywhere on the body, even where there has been no sun exposure.

Please note that Skin Checks can be added to any of our services as an optional extra.

Our Skin Checks include:

• a skin assessment consultation takes approx 15-30 minutes, this varies according to the individual’s specific needs (an assessment of a single mole or a full body skin check)
• those with many moles usually require longer consultations
• performed by our doctors that are Fellows of Royal Australian College of General Practice with extensive experience in skin cancer surveillance and monitoring
• a thorough examination of the skin is taken using a skin microscopy technique known as dermascopy where the suspicious lesions are identified
• should any lesions be identified a follow up appointment can be made at our practice or through referral to a specialist

Travel Medicine

Travelling for work already has its pressures without adding health issues into the mix. You can help mitigate these risks for your organisation through an effective travel health program.

In today's global environment, businesses are increasingly required to send staff overseas. This often requires travel to a variety of countries. Overseas travellers have up to a 50% chance of experiencing travel-related illness, some of which can be life threatening.Prior to all travel, it is important to have a medical check-up for personalised advice on how to reduce your risk of illness.

To ensure the health and wellbeing of your staff is managed and protected, Modern Medical provides Corporate Travel Health Services.These services include quick and easy access to dedicated, professional and experienced doctors who will help minimise the risk to staff, lost productivity, unnecessary medical costs and disruptions to major projects.

Where possible, advise your staff to seek advice at least six weeks before travel and inform the receptionist that you require a travel consultation. Modern Medical doctors have extensive experience with all aspects of travel medicine. Our clinics can all provide comprehensive travel health advice and vaccinations.

Our Corporate Travel Medicine Service includes:

• A doctor’s consultation, including preparation of documentation for carrying medication overseas and the provision of preventative and treatment medications
• Travel health information
• Provision of vaccinations and personalised vaccination booklets
• As some vaccinations are given over a period of time, it is important that you organise your initial contact with us as early as possible
• Some live vaccinations, like yellow fever vaccine, have to be administered together with other live vaccines over three to four weeks, so please consult our doctors prior to having other vaccines
• Follow-up health assessment on return to Australia

Workplace Immunisations

Immunisation does not just protect one person from illness; it greatly reduces the transmission of illness. When more people are protected with vaccination, a disease has less opportunity to spread from person to person, keeping your workforce healthier.

Our team will work with you to tailor the best vaccination program for your business. Modern Medical provides a range of vaccinations, including hepatitis and influenza. We can help you design a program to improve your vaccination rate and reduce the rate of vaccine preventable diseases within your organisation.

Immunisation services include:

• Consultation with our specialised vaccination doctors who will determine the risk to exposure for each of your employees and their individual status to establish their requirements
• Provide pathology collection and any required vaccinations with a full range of vaccines available
• Follow Up Consultations including further doses of vaccines as well as serology testing to ensure that each employee is fully protected against diseases they can be exposure to in their workplace
• This can be conducted in your workplace or at our practice

Flu Vaccinations

Establishing your workplace's Flu Vaccination Program is crucial in protecting your employees from influenza (the flu). The flu is a highly contagious, potentially life-threatening disease of the respiratory tract caused by influenza viruses. The highly transmittable nature of the flu means that it is very easy to catch via an infected person’s cough or sneeze. Therefore, investing in this program is a preventative measure to reduce absenteeism and provide a healthy environment in your workplace.

Many companies consider a flu vaccination program to be an effective strategy to reduce sick leave, increase productivity and show employees that you care about their wellbeing.

How the program works:

• A central contact person will coordinate the program and assist with your enquiries.
• This will ensure minimal disruption to your employees’ working environment.

The benefits of a flu vaccination program include:

• Reduction in the frequency of upper respiratory illnesses
• Reduction in absenteeism from work due to influenza-related symptoms

Please note that Flu Vaccinations can be added to any of our services as an optional extra.

Our immunisation services can work in one of two ways:

• Work-based option:
  we can send a specialised vaccination team to your workplace at a time and date convenient for you and your employees
• In clinic option:
  we send you pre-paid vaccination vouchers for you to distribute to your employees they can then attend one of our clinics across Melbourne, to receive their vaccine at a time that is convenient for them

Both options include experienced, qualified and specially trained nurse immunisers. The nurse will remain with your employees for a short observation period to manage any possible allergic reactions.

Specialty Workplace Services

Our Occupational Physician is qualified and has extensive experience in assessing organisations and the activities within the workplace to assist in the wellbeing of employees and the relationship

Dr Reza Sabetghadam is an Occupational Physician based out of Modern Medical St Kilda Road. With more than 10 years in the field (17 years in general medicine), Dr Reza provides a wide range of services relating to the health of workers and employers. He is qualified and has extensive experience in assessing organisations and the activities within the workplace to assist in the wellbeing of employees and the relationship of health issues at work.

Dr Reza focuses on the three key pillars of:

• Prevention
• Treatment
• Rehabilitation

With an emphasis on prevention, Dr Reza has seen improved quality of life for employees and cost effectiveness for employers. He has been instrumental in providing expert advice and care for our broad range of corporate and industrial clients.

Speciality Workplace Services include:

• Workplace Assessments
• Provide advice on protection and practices to Workplaces to minimise risk and exposures to hazards
• Health Monitoring Programs following SafeWork Guidelines
• Assessments regarding Infection Control
• Consultations and treatment for Workplace Exposures

Health Education

An important part of staying healthy is understanding what it means to live healthily. Our team is able to sit down with you to design single informational sessions or establish regular sessions to educate and inform your employees.

We can design our session to be simple presentations or delivered as interactive workshops. The sessions are adaptive to your needs. They can tailored to fit into short 20-40min sessions or spread across multiple sessions and form a health education course. This will help you to manage your company’s productivity levels that best suits your business’ needs.

Please note that Health Education can be added to any of our services as an optional extra.

Health Education Workshop and Presentation Topics can include:

• Drug & Alcohol
• Preventative Health
• Vaccinations and Benefits
• Diet and Nutrition
• Getting Active
• Infectious Diseases