External Practicum-Year Residency Training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine: the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center Program

We describe a competency-based training program that allows physicians employed full-time in occupational and environmental medicine to satisfy the supervised practicum year of training required by the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM). The program is designed for trainees with greater clinical experience than the 1 clinical year required by the ABPM. To date, 25 physicians from clinic-based, academic, corporate, and government employment across most geographic regions of the United States have been admitted into the program. Most completed a master's in public health (MPH) in a distance-learning, on-job, on-campus, or executive program. The practicum-year training has been highly successful, as evidenced by improvements in resident self-assessment of competency, resident satisfaction with the training, faculty evaluation of resident performance, and success rate in the ABPM examination. The program has opened a new pathway for physicians making a mid-career shift to occupational and environmental medicine to obtain high-quality, in-depth education and board certification.