Maritime Health Research and Education-NET/Publications on the way/Health services among port workers in Costa Rica: analysis of data from a container terminal clinic/Abstract

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 Title: Health services among port workers in Costa Rica: analysis of data from a container terminal clinic 

 Authors: AM, OJ 

Background
Port workers are occupationally susceptible to poor health outcomes and the patterns of their healthcare healthcare services available to them remain so far un-documented. We report the pattern of port workers use of the medical clinic inside a large container terminal in Costa Rica.

Methods
We analysed anonymised data (n=3075) routinely collected from the port workers visit over a 8 month period in a medical clinic which offer service 24/7 and describe the diagnostic pattern for the best future service development.

Results
We recorded 3075 visits by 1301 port workers (average of x nvisits/person) who accessed 3075 services for an average of xx.x services/visit and xx.x.services/person. The mean age of port workers was 38,6 years (19-69). The most accessed services were primary healthcare pain(xx%) followed by drug control(xx%). Low proportions (≤6%) accessed xxxx services. Most visits were characterised by only one service being accessed

Conclusions
The analysis shows that tailored services assist in alleviating healthcare access challenges faced by port workers and it underscores the importance of ensuring that clinics speak to port workers’ needs in terms of services offered and clinic location.

Keywords
Port workers, Healthcare, Service delivery, Costa Rica, Port terminal medical Centre,