The goal is to prepare residents for the comprehensive practice of occupational medicine in a variety of settings, including private clinical practices, managed health care organizations, corporate medical departments, public health programs and legal or regulatory authorities. The residency addresses the competencies specified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for residency training in preventive medicine-occupational medicine, as well as core competencies identified by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. A list of competencies addressed by the program is available for review. Graduates of the program are well prepared to take the ABPM certification examination in preventive medicine-occupational medicine.
Specific educational objectives include:
- Enabling residents to acquire knowledge of and the ability to apply the core sciences of preventive medicine—epidemiology, biostatistics, health care organization and administration, occupational and environmental health, and behavioral sciences—in the identification and solution of health problems in occupational groups
- Helping residents acquire knowledge and skills in toxicology, environmental monitoring and safety evaluation as they apply to individuals and groups
- Enhancing residents’ clinical knowledge in the care of people with occupational or environmental exposures and in the assessment of suitability for employment
- Teaching residents about planning, management and evaluation of occupational health programs in clinical practice and corporate settings
- Developing in residents an understanding of the policy-making process in occupational medicine with respect to law, regulation and workers’ compensation
- Creating in residents an understanding of the roles and expertise of other occupational health professionals, and to collaborate with these professionals
- Providing an opportunity for residents to develop independent research skills and to be able to use appropriate analytical techniques in the prevention of occupational diseases and injuries and in the evaluation of occupational health care programs.
These aims are achieved through the graduate degree programs during the academic phase, the field site training during the practicum phase, clinical training at UC Irvine’s Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), clinical case conferences, didactic seminars and the resident projects.
