The goal of this project is to educate future physicians who will incorporate environmental and occupational medicine in to the practice of medicine, whether clinical primary care of specialty medicine or academic research. The twin objectives of faculty and curriculum development are as follows: Curricular development will concentrate on years two through four of medical school, with limited extension into the areas of pre-medical school and continuing medical education. Educational objectives include knowledge, attitudinal and behavioral changes through environmental/occupational additions in the following required courses: 1) Epidemiology-students will be paired with basic science faculty to take an environmental/occupational history; 2) Introduction to Medicine-will include problem-based learning including environmental health aspects; 3) Primary Care Medicine will require computer cases, problem-based role play session and history-taking assignment; 4) Medicine clerkship will require computer cases and problem-based role-play; 5) Pediatrics will incorporate a screening case focused on lead toxicity; and 6) Prevention will introduce environmental issues through a two hour lecture on quantitative risk assessment followed by a site-visit to a water treatment facility with discussion of related human health issues. In addition, two electives will be developed to nurture students with greater interest in environmental/occupational medicine. Process evaluation will be performed for each curricular intervention. Outcome evaluation will be performed using a pre-post control format for most interventions. Individual (P.I.) faculty development will target areas necessary for implementation and evaluations of the proposed curriculum. Senior educators will supervise the candidate in the role of co-teacher for various educational workshops in areas such as student evaluation, small group discussions, lecture format, etc. that are given to chief residents and teaching residents in internal medicine, adjunct teaching faculty in Medicine and Health Care Sciences, and fourth year medical students. Specific technology-based learning aids, including computer-assisted instruction and televised courses, will be developed in conjunction with experts in these fields, to develop less faculty-intensive approaches to learning. Finally, teaching ability in the area of quantitative risk assessment will be developed.
| Sokas, R K; Simmens, S; Scott, J (1993) A training program in universal precautions for second-year medical students. Acad Med 68:374-6 |
| Sokas, R K; Fenton, B; Foran, J et al. (1993) Environmental medicine: its introduction into a medical school primary care requirement. Med Educ 27:410-5 |
