Workers in certain occupations and industries can be exposed to more carcinogens, at higher levels, and for longer periods than the general population. Although these exposures contribute to cancer incidence, cancer risk in the workplace may be overlooked in primary care, where occupational histories may not routinely extend beyond a patient’s job title.
“What do you do for work?” is a useful starting point, but an effective occupational history needs to consider the patient’s tasks and duties, materials used, duration of exposure and workplace controls. Primary care professionals therefore have an important role in recognising potential occupational cancer risks, supporting appropriate health monitoring, and directing patients to further information and services.
Cancer Council’s KNOW Workplace Cancer project, together with the Primary Care Cancer Education project, seeks to address this awareness gap by translating evidence on occupational carcinogens and cancers into accessible, practical, and clinically relevant information and education for GPs and other primary care professionals.
This presentation will highlight the importance of occupational cancer in primary care and explore approaches to communicating this information to clinicians. Accredited professional development and education provide an important mechanism for building the knowledge and confidence of primary care professionals to consider occupational causes of disease in routine practice.
Putting occupational cancer on the clinical radar can help primary care professionals to recognise when work or environmental exposures may have contributed to a patient’s cancer, to be aware of clinical states that may be precursors of cancer development, and to give due consideration to appropriate reporting. Improving recognition and reporting not only benefits individual patients but also helps make the burden of occupational cancer more visible, strengthening surveillance, targeted prevention and policy responses.