What is Occupational and Environmental Medicine?

Occupational and environmental medicine is perhaps the most wide
ranging of all medical specialties. It is the medical specialty
devoted to prevention and management of occupational and
environmental injury, illness and disability, and promotion of health
and productivity of workers, their families, and communities.

Many physicians may not realize that occupational and environmental
medicine is a specialty of challenge and opportunity. Because the
majority of the population is employed, the need for specialists in
the field continues to grow. Regardless of the particular aspect of
medical practice a physician finds most interesting -- diagnosis,
internal or family medicine, psychiatry, surgery, epidemiology,
toxicology, forensic medicine, administration, preventive medicine --
occupational and environmental medicine can encompass them all.

More than a quarter of a century ago, an editorial in the Journal of
the American Medical Association defined occupational medicine as "a
specialty field of medicine concerned with: 1) the appraisal,
maintenance, restoration, and improvement of the health of the worker
through the application of the principles of preventive medicine,
emergency medical care, rehabilitation, and environmental medicine;
2) the promotion of a productive and fulfilling interaction of the
worker with his work through the application of the principles of
human behavior; and 3) the active application of the social,
economic, and administrative needs and responsibilities of both the
worker and the work community." This definition emphasizes the
importance of a medical practice recognized since the days of
Hippocrates (460-377 BC).

Occupational medicine was previously identified as "industrial
medicine." This term was used when heavy industry (e.g., lumbering,
automobile manufacturing, mining, railroads, steel manufacturers,
etc.) employed physicians to provide acute medical and surgical care
for employees. By 1945, medical programs had spread to business
organizations with a predominance of clerical and service employees.
Large banks, insurance companies, mercantile establishments, etc.,
could not be described as industrial; therefore, the broader
designation of "occupational medicine" came into common use.
Occupational medicine achieved specialty status from the American
Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) in 1955.

Today, the complexity and pervasiveness of modern industrial
processes afford occupational and environmental medicine physicians
the opportunity to address work site and environmental concerns and
such community health and policy issues as atmospheric pollution,
product safety, health promotion, and benefits value management. The
term "environmental medicine" has also recently been used to describe
this growing, challenging, modern medical specialty. Environmental
medicine has been defined as the branch of medical science that
addresses the impact of chemical and physical stressors on
individuals and groups. Both occupational and environmental medicine
use similar skills and focus on the recognition and prevention of
hazardous exposures.

Occupational and environmental medicine belongs to the future. It
offers unlimited challenges and its interests are so broad that
within its scope a physician can satisfy special concerns in academic
research, administration, hospital practice, private practice, or any
of the other aspects of medical practice. Occupational and
environmental medicine requires high professional standards