Occupational medicine training program surveys

Although the quantity of Occupational Medicine (OM) residents in training programs has risen in the past 15 years, there remains a significant shortage of OM physicians in the United States. A survey of OM residency program directors and residents and fellows (trainees) was accomplished to answer questions relevant to recruiting and supplying OM trained physicians. Twenty-six of 29 program directors (89.7%) replied. One hundred forty-three of 174 (82.2%) trainees responded. Fifty percent of responding program directors were satisfied with the current quantity of program applicants. Medical students were provided a median of 3 hours (range, 0 to 20 hours; mean, 5.35 hours) of formal OM teaching by the responding programs. Almost half of trainees, 68 (48.6%), did not receive formal OM instruction in medical school. An average of 5.4 +/- 13.3 hours of OM was taught to OM trainees in medical school. Disproportionate numbers of trainees were taught OM as fourth-year medical students and in other residencies. Reasons for pursuing OM training were diverse and often related to postgraduate clinical experience with OM. Only a total of 84 primary care residents (0.32%) rotate through the OM residency programs in an average year. We conclude that an insufficient quantity of qualified applicants, combined with limited exposure to OM in medical schools and low levels of contact with residents in primary care programs, will continue to hinder efforts to reduce the shortage of OM residents and physicians. Further training specifically targeting the fourth year of medical school and the primary care residencies may have the most impact on recruitment.