We are working on a consistent set of FAQs for all specialties as part of a revamp of the Specialty Selector.
If you are a practicing Preventive Medicine physician (Aerospace, Occupational, or Public Health), please share your expertise by answering these questions.
Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity to give back to the SDN community!
What is unique or special about this specialty?
What other specialties did you consider and why did you pick this one?
What challenges will this specialty face in the next 10 years?
What are common practice settings for this specialty?
How challenging or easy is it to match in this specialty?
What excites you most about your specialty in the next 5, 10, 15 years from now?
Does your specialty currently use or do you foresee the incorporation of technology such as Artificial Intelligence?
What are some typical traits to be successful in this specialty? (For example, organization skills, work independently)
What does a typical workday consist of in your specialty?
What is the career progression for your specialty?
How has your work impacted your life dynamics? What is your work-life balance?
What is unique or special about this specialty? OEM is a real hidden gem. It is very different from most other specialties. OEM offers a unique blend of direct clinical care of workers with medical leadership and population health. There is a diverse range of practice settings and plenty of job opportunities. Work-life balance is excellent and job satisfaction is high across the board.
What other specialties did you consider and why did you pick this one? I started off in general surgery before coming across OEM somewhat by accident years into my medical career. I wish I had known about it sooner. For me, it is a perfect blend of clinical, non-clinical, population health, and leadership. It lacks many of the drawbacks I dealt with in gen surg.
What challenges will this specialty face in the next 10 years? As many practicing OEM physicians are older and approaching retirement, OEM will be challenged as demand will continue to outstrip supply while at the same time the OEM residency training pipeline is not expanding. How to fill the demand? With more NPs and PAs? By pulling in other specialists and giving them on-the-job OEM training? By securing the government funding to expand the number of resident positions?
What are common practice settings for this specialty? One of the great things about OEM is the diverse job opportunities in a variety of roles and industries. This includes academics, hospital-based occupational medicine - both inward-facing (employee health, for your own organization’s employees) and outward-facing (evaluation and treatment of employees from smaller businesses that lack their own medical staff), government organizations at all levels, military, public safety/law enforcement, corporate medical roles, industrial medicine such as factory clinics, public health roles, group and private practice, independent consulting, medicolegal work, and niche areas like nuclear, mining, oil and gas, transportation, theme parks, etc.
How challenging or easy is it to match in this specialty? OEM is currently not particularly competitive to match into, though it can fluctuate year-to-year due to a relatively small number of residency slots compared to other specialties. It is also expected to become more competitive now that it has belatedly joined the NRMP and as a result will become more visible to those going through the match process in the future.
What excites you most about your specialty in the next 5, 10, 15 years from now? As competition to recruit/retain talent increases, and companies put more value on maintaining health and productivity and driving down costs related to injury and illness, I think that OEM physicians will have an even more important role in driving occupational health and wellness in the private sector.
Does your specialty currently use or do you foresee the incorporation of technology such as Artificial Intelligence? While AI is not expected to displace OEM specialists, there is great potential to help make OEM specialists more effective and productive. Many are already using, though I believe uptake is highly variable.
What are some typical traits to be successful in this specialty? (For example, organization skills, work independently)? Successful OEM specialists tend to think big-picture, be excellent communicators with non-medical leadership, are able to persuasively back up their recommendations and positions, are attentive to detail, value their autonomy, are humble and down-to-earth, and have good writing skills. Many are interested in law, economics, or business. More on this here.
What does a typical workday consist of in your specialty? Due to the diversity of the specialty, with jobs ranging from 100% clinical to 100% non-clinical, it is hard to consider anything a "typical" workday in OEM. Most OEM docs have a blend of patient care and administrative responsibilities.
What is the career progression for your specialty? This is highly variable. Some go straight into OEM residency from medical school, or do OEM as a fellowship after starting in something else. OEM has an unusually high percentage that switch into OEM in mid- or late-career compared to other specialties, often because they don't learn about OEM until after they have completed training in something else. Some gradually work their way into OEM over time. There are a variety of career paths within OEM, but it is certainly possible to switch between them if you want a change.
How has your work impacted your life dynamics? What is your work-life balance? Work-life balance is typically excellent in OEM. I rarely work on nights, weekends, or holidays. OEM has allowed me to be clinically productive and professionally fulfilled while raising four children with a working wife. I am able to take on extra-curriculars that are important to me, such as coaching youth sports or being a local Cub Scout leader. I don't believe I would have been able to do all this had I stayed in general surgery.
How does healthcare policy impact your specialty? OEM has an outsized impact on worker health and policies that pertain to occupational health and safety. Fluctuations in Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rates have little impact on OEM compared to other specialties. But OEM is affected by changes to worker's compensation or regulatory changes such as OSHA standards with medical surveillance requirements.
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