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The Future of Occupational and Environmental Medicine



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  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) is an ACGME-accredited preventive medicine specialty focused on work as a social determinant of health and population health. OEM providers recognize and mitigate workplace and environmental hazards, treat resultant injuries and illnesses, and promote the health, wellness and resiliency of workers and communities. Multidisciplinary residency training in clinical medicine, epidemiology, public and population health, toxicology, exposure and risk assessment, and emergency preparedness equips them with the skill set needed for leadership roles in diverse settings. These include clinical practice, academia, corporate settings, and governmental agencies. Despite robust job opportunities, a shortage of formally trained OEM physicians remains and is expected to worsen given a declining number of training programs. We examine root causes of the system-level issues impacting the supply of OEM physicians and potential solutions. Occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) has been practiced since at least 3000 bc when injured pyramid workers were offered care and compensation, as documented in the Edwin Smith Papyrus. Bernardino Ramazzini (1633 to 1714), who identified numerous workplace hazards and associated diseases, documented in Diseases of Workers, 1632, is considered the father of occupational medicine. Alice Hamilton (1869 to 1970) was one of the first physicians to bring attention to the health hazards that workers in the newly industrialized United States endured, paving the way for OEM as we know it today. Occupational and environmental medicine is the field where medicine and public health intersect. Emphasizing work and the environment as important social determinants of health, OEM professionals use a multidisciplinary approach to recognize, diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and illness that arise from exposures at work, home, and the environment. Occupational and environmental medicine physicians work to improve the health, well-being, and safety of employees and their communities, locally and globally. The historic and catastrophic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) pandemic has required rapid interpretation of complex public health data and timely development and implementation of public health and workplace guidelines. Physicians with multidisciplinary OEM expertise have been essential to the pandemic response. With their training, the OEM physician understands the risks our workforce faces from infectious and environmental hazards and how to identify, manage, mitigate, and prevent them. The ability to keep employees safe and healthy is of optimum importance and enables our society and economy to continue to function and flourish. The OEM physician is critical to this mission. This article addresses the value of OEM, the current state of OEM practice and education and the challenges faced regarding the training of future OEM physicians. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    1076-2752
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Volume:
    64
  • Issue:
    12
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20067179
  • Citation:
    J Occup Environ Med 2022 Dec; 64(12):e857-e863
  • Contact Point Address:
    Judith Green-McKenzie, Division of Occupational Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, 3400 Spruce Street, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia PA 19104
  • Email:
    Judith.McKenzie@pennmmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2023
  • Performing Organization:
    University of California Los Angeles
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
  • End Date:
    20270630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:5f8dbc96d94e451dd08de8302781666d248644ae0f0b2dd25bad0179c5e4448aa058276f647baf98fdfb92655416b95c6681897ebf645093332bf469eb7dffea
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 433.17 KB ]
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