Incorporating an environmental/occupational medicine theme into the medical school curriculum

Medical schools have been slow in teaching students how to recognize and in tervene in occupationally and environmentally related illnesses, In this ar ticle, we report on the efforts at one medical school, in which an occupati onal medicine physician teamed with medical school educators developed, imp lemented, and evaluated an environmental/occupational medicine (EOM) curric ulum that was introduced in several locations, using a thematic approach, T his effort resulted in new EOM content being added to eight core courses in a developmental sequence and the creation of several elective experiences, We describe techniques and strategies that might be useful at other instit utions in promoting the EOM theme and improving communication, Occupational /environmental physicians and educators can play leadership roles in raisin g interest in EOM within the medical school setting and in developing and i mplementing an EOM curriculum.