[Changes of working responsibilities and intentions of industrial physicians who are graduates of University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, in 2001 and 2008 questionnaire analyses].

To investigate the working responsibilities and intentions of industrial physicians who are graduates of University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan (UOEH), we performed a questionnaire survey in 2008 and compared the results with those of 2001. To industrial physicians belonging to a company or occupational health organization, we dispatched a questionnaire and asked them to return it with an answer. The items to investigate included their careers and working activities and their intentions to their responsibilities. We obtained the following results. 1. The dissatisfaction with salary and official position was mostly reduced to 24.7% from 29.2% and 19.7% from 29.9%. 2. The practical duty of medical examination of workers and the subsequent management was decreased to 51.5% from 74.7%, while mental health support and the advice on severe health issues such as excess work death were increased to 85.6% from 54.5% and 32.4% from 22.1%. 3. Concerning the working status of industrial physicians, the ratio of the answer of "The industrial physician duties are not positively evaluated by his or her company" was decreased to 23.1% from 32.5%. The investigation of 2008 revealed that the situation of UOEH graduated industrial physicians was substantially improved concerning the dissatisfaction with salary and official position, as compared with the study of 7 years before.