Improved understanding of the actual activities of occupational health professionals and the specific skills they utilize will facilitate improving service delivery, creating competency based educational systems, and making effective use of educational resources. Focusing on occupational medicine as an example, the project will use a work sampling technique complemented by questionnaires and focus groups to define the actual work activities and skills used. For work sampling, participants will report activity/ task/ task element for a series of 15 minute work samples. The project will include local, regional, and national samples. Multifaceted participant recruitment methods will create a broad-based sample, including self identified medical providers of worker care who are not members of organizations. Organized """"""""guidance groups"""""""" will guide the project, assist interpretation of data, and facilitate meaningful dissemination. Analyses will be both descriptive and address specific questions such as determining the impact of formal education and evaluating whether occupational preventive medicine is a homogeneous field or composed of distinct subgroups.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
7R01OH008647-05
Application #
8332403
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZOH1-COR (02))
Program Officer
Karr, Joan
Project Start
2007-09-01
Project End
2012-08-31
Budget Start
2011-08-01
Budget End
2012-08-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$404,362
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Arizona
Department
Type
DUNS #
806345617
City
Tucson
State
AZ
Country
United States
Zip Code
85721
Harber, Philip; Wu, Samantha; Bontemps, Johnny et al. (2013) Value of occupational medicine board certification. J Occup Environ Med 55:532-8
Harber, Philip; Bontemps, Johnny; Saechao, Kaochoy et al. (2012) Career paths in occupational medicine. J Occup Environ Med 54:1324-9
Harber, Philip; Rose, Sasha; Bontemps, Johnny et al. (2010) Occupational medicine practice: one specialty or three? J Occup Environ Med 52:672-9