Environmental Medicine: Integrating a Missing Element into Medical Education

This volume articulates a general program of implementation strategies and provides practical advice for integrating environmental medicine content into medical education. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the issues and the organization of the volume. Chapter 2 lays the foundation for a curriculum centered on six competency-based learning objectives. Chapter 3 uses these objectives as a framework for identifying likely access points in the curriculum for integrating environmental medicine into today's medical studies. Chapter 4 addresses both the barriers to implementing such a curriculum and the opportunities for reducing these barriers. Chapter 5 presents concluding remarks that summarize some of the events that led to the report. Recommendations for integrating an enhanced program of environmental medicine throughout the system of medical education and practice appear at the ends of chapters 2 through 4. Four extensive appendixes which comprise most of the document contain resources including: an example of a tool for teaching how to elicit a good environmental history; a paper on the relevance of and opportunities for integrating environmental medicine into common medical school courses and rotations; 55 case studies useful in teaching and learning; a list of agencies, organizations, services, references (books, reports, and curriculum resources) and tables of environmental health hazards. (Contains 66 references.) (JB)