122 Original Article DOI: 10.1111/j.1610-0387.2008.06864.x JDDG | 2 ˙ 2009 (Band 7) © The Authors • Journal compilation © Blackwell Verlag GmbH, Berlin • JDDG • 1610-0379/2009/0702 Keywords • occupational skin diseases • hand eczema • dermatologist’s procedure • secondary individual prevention • tertiary individual prevention • patient education Summary Scientifically based prevention and patient management concepts in occupa- tional dermatology have substantially improved during recent years. Currently the public statutory employers’ liability insurance bodies fund a multi-step intervention approach designed to provide quick preventive help for all levels of severity of occupational dermatoses. An administrative guideline (hierarchi- cal multi-step intervention procedure for occupational skin diseases – “Stufenverfahren Haut”) insures professional support and optimal patient ori- entation by the statutory insurers’ representatives. For secondary prevention, the so-called dermatologist’s procedure (“Hautarztverfahren”) was recently up- dated in order to provide more rapid dermatologic consultations which are covered for by the public statutory employers’ liability insurance bodies. Additionally, combined outpatient dermatologic and health-educational inter- vention seminars (“secondary individual prevention” [SIP]) are offered to affected employees in a nationwide scheme. For those cases of occupational dermatoses in which these outpatient preven- tion measures are not successful, interdisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation measures have been developed (“tertiary individual prevention” [TIP]). TIP requires 3 weeks inpatient treatment including intensive health care instruc- tion and psychological counseling, followed by outpatient treatment by the local dermatologist. In 2005, a German prospective cohort multicenter study (“Medical-Occupational Rehabilitation Procedure Skin – optimizing and quality assurance of inpatient-management” – “Medizinisch-Berufliches Rehabilitationsverfahren Haut – Optimierung und Qualitätssicherung des Heilverfahrens” [ROQ]) started which will further standardize TIP and evaluate scientific sustainability in depth (3-year dermatological follow-up of 1,000 patients). The study is being funded by the German Statutory Accident Insurance (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung [DGUV]). Multicenter study „Medical-Occupational Rehabilitation Procedure Skin – optimizing and quality assurance of inpatient-management (ROQ)” Christoph Skudlik 1,2 , Elke Weisshaar 3 , Reginald Scheidt 3 , Britta Wulfhorst 1,2 , Thomas Ludwig Diepgen 3 , Peter Elsner 4,5 , Michael Schönfeld 6 , Swen Malte John 1,2 (1) Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and Health Theory, University of Osnabrück, Germany (2) Institute for Interdisciplinary Dermatologic Prevention and Rehabilitation (iDerm) of the University of Osnabrück and Dermatologic Center, Employers’ Liability Insurance Association Hospital for Accidents, Hamburg, Germany (3) Department of Clinical Social Medicine, Center of Health System Research, Occupational and Environmental Dermatology, University of Heidelberg, Germany (4) Department of Dermatology and Dermatologic Allergology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany (5) Employers’ Liability Insurance Association Clinic for Occupational Diseases Falkenstein, Germany (6) Clinic for Occupational Diseases of the Employers’ Liability Insurance Association of the Ceramic and Glass Industry, Bad Reichenhall, Germany JDDG; 2009 • 7:122–126 Submitted: 19. 4. 2008 | Accepted: 1. 7. 2008 Introduction Occupational dermatology is represented in the German Society of Dermatology (Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft [DDG]) by the Task Force on Occupational and Environmental Dermatology (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Berufs- und Umweltdermatologie [ABD]), which has undertaken intensive efforts in recent years in the fields of pre- vention and quality assurance to con- tribute to the prevention of occupational dermatoses and to improve care of patients with occupational skin diseases [1]. This is all the more necessary as occupational skin diseases are numerically by far the most frequently reported occupational diseases. Thus, in 2005 of