title: Occupational medicine practice: one specialty or three?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harber
authors.forename: Sasha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Johnny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bontemps
authors.forename: Kaochoy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saechao
authors.forename: Yihang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elashoff
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: 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