Occupational medicine practice: one specialty or three?
OBJECTIVE
To characterize education, practice, and skills of occupational physicians and to evaluate subgroups within the profession.


METHODS
The data for the baseline surveys of the occupational medicine practice research project were collected for a national sample of occupational physicians using paper or on-line instruments. Three subgroups were defined a priori-injury care, clinical specialist, and management/population.


RESULTS
Occupational medicine seems to include three distinct subgroups, which differ in characteristics such as patient volume, relevant clinical skills, and income source. Nevertheless, many commonalities were present across all three groups, such as emphasis on communication, OSHA, and workers compensation. Musculoskeletal and workers compensation care were most important, although there were highly significant differences among the three subgroups.


CONCLUSIONS
Planning for education, certification, and organization of services should acknowledge the distinctions among the three subgroups.
Harber
Philip
P
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. pharber@mednet.ucla.edu
Rose
Sasha
S
Bontemps
Johnny
J
Saechao
Kaochoy
K
Liu
Yihang
Y
Elashoff
David
D
Wu
Samantha
S
D002983:Clinical Competence; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D009787:Occupational Medicine / Q000191:economics* / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration; D014942:Workers' Compensation