Back to school

In Back to school John Hobson briefly explores the decline of traditional work experience among medical students alongside the lack of occupational health teaching.

Some Reflections on the Global and Asia-Pacific Situations in Occupational Health Education and Training

In the last two decades, there have been dramatic developments in the field of occupational health. With it, the importance of occupational health training and education is greatly appreciated. In a worldwide questionnaire survey on occupational health teaching in schools of medicine, 69.9% of the schools have some form of occupational health teaching for medical undergraduates. The total number of hours varies considerably but on average is 32.7 hours. Some occupational health teaching might however have been classified under other subject headings. In the Asia-Pacific region, several postgraduate degree courses were recently established. Continuing educational courses and short courses are on the rise. To take advantage of the existing primary health care systems, special courses for public health workers and primary health care personnel have been conducted. In the past, interest in occupational health education and training tended to be overshadowed by advances in epidemiology and pathogenesis of occupational diseases. Based on our experience over the past few years, occupational health training and education will gather greater momentum worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular.