Recruiting the occupational and environmental medicine physicians of the future: results of a survey of current residents.

In July 1994, current occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) residents (n = 180) were surveyed about their motivation for decisions to enter OEM residencies, near-term and long-term career goals, and their opinions on various strategies for recruitment to the field. A total of 151 persons responded (84%), representing all 40 accredited OEM residencies in the United States and Canada. A total of 16% first learned about OEM in medical school, and 11% were first exposed during residency training. Most respondents (62%) decided to enter OEM residency training after beginning their professional working careers. Only 11% of respondents decided to enter OEM residency training before (2%) or during (9%) medical school, whereas 24% made their decision during internship or residency. Respondents were attracted to several aspects of OEM, but the prevention focus of the field (64%), lifestyle (56%), and worker and labor issues (53%) were most commonly cited. Although only 25% of respondents stated that a role model had a significant impact on their decision to pursue training in OEM, persons influenced by a role model were more likely to have made the decision to pursue a career in OEM during medical school or clinical residency training (odds ratio = 2.4; 95% CI, 1.0-5.4; Fisher's exact two-tailed P value = 0.04). In the short term, residents were most often interested in working for industry (32%), whereas over the long term, careers in consulting were most often preferred (39%). The data have important implications for strategies to increase recruitment to residency training programs in OEM and to increase staffing in the field.