The Occupational Medicine Pipeline: Report on the Results of a Survey of International Occupational Medicine Society Collaborative (IOMSC) Member Countries.

Abstract

To learn how occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) expertise is developed and maintained around the world and to inform strategies for further international development of OEM. An anonymous survey was conducted of leaders of the 48 member societies (from 43 countries) of the International Occupational Medicine Society Collaborative (IOMSC) to evaluate OEM training, certification, maintenance, and recertification requirements. OEM physician leaders representing 46 of the 48 IOMSC member societies (95.8%) completed the survey between December 2019 and February 2020. Academic post-graduate and on-the-job training were the most frequent methods for developing OEM expertise, with little use of online coursework and minimal OEM content in medical school in most countries. Occupational medicine board certification usually required graduate specialty training and passing a certification examination, while occupational medicine recertification requirements were uncommon. The IOMSC is positioned to support the international development of OEM expertise by sharing information on competencies, best practices in medical education curriculum content and examples of OEM specialty certification pathways from different countries.