The teaching of occupational health in American medical schools

A questionnaire survey of the 112 U.S. medical schools was conducted to determine the content and format of occupational health teaching during the 1977--78 academic year. In only 46 (50 percent) of the 92 responding institutions was occupational health specifically taught; and only 28 (30 percent) required it in their curricula, usually in the preclinical years. Among these 28, the median required curriculum time was four hours. Thirty-five (38 percent) of the responding schools offered a variety of elective courses or clerkships, mainly in the clinical years and taken by few students. Given the extent of work-related medical problems in the United States and the frequency with which almost all physicians see patients with work-related problems, much more of the core curriculum of medical schools should be devoted to occupational health.