Undergraduate occupational medicine teaching in European schools of medicine

Introduction
Over the past 20 years, national governmental bodies have pointed out the under recognition of occupational diseases and have reiterated the desirability of training in the discipline at medical undergraduate level. The purpose of this study was to assess the level and content of the teaching of occupational medicine (OM) in the undergraduate medical curricula in Europe

Methods
A questionnaire survey designed to capture information on the teaching of OM to undergraduates was sent to all medical schools in Europe (n = 283).

Results
One hundred and five medical schools (37%), representing nearly 100,000 undergraduate students, returned a completed questionnaire. Ninety six of them had specific OM lectures but the amount of teaching ranged from 2 to 80 hours with a mean of 27 hours. Overall, 53% of the faculties teaches less than 30h of OM. Eighty nine percent of the schools had learning objectives in OM, and 79% had an OM manual or syllabus. Occupational respiratory diseases, occupational cancers, occupational toxicology and Musculo-squelettal disorders were the most frequently taught, whereas assessment of disability was taught in one third of the faculties and disability and return to work in less than one half.

Discussion
Despite the increasing recognition of the impact and value of work on health, medical schools in Europe fall far short of a comprehensive program of teaching in this important subject area. Our results probably overestimate the level and content of OM teaching in Europe since it is plausible that only the best medical schools have replied. This low level of teaching may result in doctors being poorly prepared to recognize and diagnose occupational diseases adequately and poorly equipped to support their patients in return to work or rehabilitation. Despite the European harmonization, we observe wide intra- and inter-country differences.