Abstract
Purpose
To assess medical students’ attitude toward occupational health (OH) in Brazil and Germany before and after a compulsory OH course.
Methods
A questionnaire regarding the attitude toward OH was completed by medical students at the beginning of the OH teaching term at the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil (n = 79), and at both medical schools in Munich, Germany (n = 266), in 2009/2010. The change in the assessed qualities over the course period was measured repeating the survey at the end of the teaching term (n = 193; 56%).
Results
Overall, attitude toward OH was relatively low in both countries (mean 3.0 ± SD 1.2 on a scale from 1 = very low to 6 = very high) and students did not consider OH as a career option. However, Brazilian medical students rated the importance of OH statistically significantly higher than German medical students. Students in both countries considered their knowledge of OH low (2.2 ± 0.9). Not only self-assessed knowledge of OH (mean difference 1.5; 95% confidence interval 1.3–1.6) but also interest in OH (mean difference 0.2; 95% CI 0.06–0.4) improved statistically significantly over the teaching term.
Conclusions
A negative attitude toward OH accompanied by little knowledge of OH seems to be a global problem. However, we have shown that this might be improved through adequate training in OH. The long-term effect still needs to be evaluated. Nevertheless, our results are promising and should encourage medical schools around the globe to include OH as a compulsory subject in medical training.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the medical students from Brazil and Germany for taking part in the surveys. This paper is part of the thesis for the medical doctorate of P. Russ. Universities Partnership for advanced training and return encouragement of young physicians from Developing Countries by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), European Union.
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The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.
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Appendix 1: Questionnaire developed at the Coronel Institute of the AMC in Amsterdam
Appendix 1: Questionnaire developed at the Coronel Institute of the AMC in Amsterdam
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Russ, P., Strümpell, S., Carvalho, D. et al. Compulsory teaching of occupational health: impact on attitude of medical students in Brazil and Germany. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 85, 81–87 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-011-0639-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-011-0639-2