Academic Information
cademic Advisors and Research Advisors -
Each resident is assigned an academic faculty advisor. The advisor will guide residents in their curriculum and thesis selection and help with problems that might arise. It is to the resident’s advantage to meet with their advisor early and often. The resident is required to meet quarterly with their faculty academic advisor as well as semi-annually with the program director. If residents wish to change their advisor to work with someone with similar clinical or research interests, they may do so with the permission of the Program Director. Each resident (other than practicum only) are assigned a research advisor who will be available to provide thesis -related assistance.
Competencies -
Effective 6/1/2001, the UC Occupational Medicine Residency Program requires all newly matriculating residents to demonstrate, by the completion of their residency, that they have had instruction in, or otherwise demonstrated fulfillment of, a comprehensive list of Occupational Medicine competencies. The list of competencies has been adapted from the list of Occupational Medicine Competencies compiled by ACOEM. A database system has been developed to link each residency experience (class or rotation) with the competencies it fulfills. Residents enter their experiences from their residency into the database, and the database system calculates the competencies met or not met by those experiences. Competencies unmet by UC Occ Med residency experiences can then be fulfilled by individual testing, work experience, rotations taken outside the UC Occ Med residency, residents' conferences and special projects. Resident should update their individual competency database at least on a quarterly basis. Competency progress is a part of each resident's semiannual evaluation with the program director.
Course Registration -
Registration deadlines are usually one week before the start of each academic quarter. The Graduate Studies Office for the Department of Environmental Health (Room 328, Kettering Laboratory; phone: 558-5704) is our "registrar". Any questions regarding registration should be referred to them. They also have all registration forms, class schedules, University Handbooks, health insurance waiver forms, and add/drop slips. When registering, Occupational Medicine residents should use a "College code" of 26, a "Class code" of 9, and a "Major code" of 727. A minimum of 12 graduate credit hours are required to maintain full-time status and 6 graduate credits hours are required to maintain part-time status. To fulfill divisional graduation requirements, full-time residents must register for at least 15 graduate credits per quarter on the average. In the fall quarter, all full-time residents must register for at least 15 credits. All academic registration forms require an academic advisor’s signature, so planning ahead and making an appointment to get the advisor's signature will prevent a delay in registration. Even if a resident registers online, he/she must review their registration selections with this/her academic advisor prior to registering.
It is wise for residents to keep a copy of all their classes and rotations that is independent of the official UC transcript, because in certain circumstances, residents will not register for some non-class experiences. However, even if these experiences are not recorded in the University registration process, both the resident and the Occupational Medicine Residency program will keep track of these experiences using a system of credit equivalents. The master list of residency experiences will be needed by the Residency Director to prepare the letter of recommendation for the Occupational Medicine Board Application, and it is essential in insuring that each resident has fulfilled the required Occupational Medicine competencies by the completion of their residency.
Errors and Incompletes -
If the class schedule received from the UC office of the registrar contains an error or the resident wishes to update it, add/drop forms can be completed and returned to the Graduate Studies Office to remedy the mistake. It is ALWAYS advisable to double check that the error was indeed corrected by receiving confirmation in writing from the Registrar's office. Similarly, if the official UC transcript contains an error or there is an "incomplete" listed for the grade, the resident should work to correct the problem by discussing the situation with the course instructor. Grade changes and Incompletes should always be corrected by the end of the next academic quarter.
Resident Conferences with Program Director -
All Occupational Medicine residents have conferences with the Program Director
at least semi-annually. The purpose of these evaluations is to review resident performance and provide feedback to enable residents to improve in areas of perceived deficiency. The individual resident’s course of study is reviewed to assess satisfactory progress towards completion of program requirements. Resident input is sought in evaluation the overall program and specific program components. An assessment is made to evaluate satisfactory progress towards completion of the Master of Science thesis project and advice is given to the residents. Resident career options are also discussed. Reviews of grades for academic coursework and evaluations of practicum work are accomplished on an ongoing basis by the Residency Program Director and provide specific data to the program director in assessing residents’ performances. The resident's progress in completing the required Occupational Medicine competencies is also discussed in these conferences. Also, any extracurricular moonlighting activities of the resident will be reviewed.Schedule of Classes and Rotations
A copy of each resident’s schedule, with applicable contact information, must be submitted to the UC Occupational Medicine residency Administrative Assistant (558-0030), the chief resident, and to Dr. Ross by the end of the first week of each academic quarter.
A sample resident schedule is presented in Table 1 (below). The academic courses are usually concentrated on in the first year, with industrial and clinical rotations and thesis work concentrated in the second year and during the summer terms. Specific course descriptions and general information for each required course is in Appendix A. Selected academic course descriptions for electives are in Appendix B.
Table 1 - SAMPLE 2-YEAR SCHEDULE FOR OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE RESIDENTS
FIRST YEAR
Summer quarter: General Occupational Medicine Clinic
Practicums: Local OSHA Office and Bethesda Care and University Health Services
Fall quarter: Courses: Environmental Health Seminar, Intro. to Biostatistics, Occ. Health, Hygiene & Safety Workshop, Principles of Occupational Exposure Assessment, Basics of Occupational Medicine
Clinical Elective (VA disability clinic)
Winter quarter: General Occupational Medicine Clinic
Courses: Environmental Health Seminar, Lung and the Environment, Occ. Health, Hygiene & Safety Workshop, Team Building Workshop, Medicolegal Skills, Intro. to Epidemiology, Master’s Thesis Research
Spring quarter: Occupational Dermatology Clinic
Courses: Environmental Health Seminar, Prin. of Ergonomics, Occ. Health, Hygiene & Safety Workshop, Design and Management of Field Studies, Basics of Environmental Medicine, Occupational Health Management, Master’s Thesis Research
SECOND YEAR
Summer quarter: Clinical elective (Allergy)
Practicums: NIOSH and Oak Ridge
Courses: Master’s Thesis Research
Fall quarter: General Occupational Medicine Clinic
Courses: Environmental Health Seminar, Identification of Potential Workplace Exposures, Pulmonary Function Testing, Master’s Thesis Research
Practicum: Procter & Gamble
Winter quarter: Occupational Pulmonary Clinic
Courses: Environmental Health Seminar, Special Topics: Toxicology, Master’s Thesis Research
Clinical Elective (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)
Spring Quarter: Courses: Environmental Health Seminar, Respirators, Special Topics: Forensic Disability, Occupational and Environmental Law, Survey of Public Health, Pediatric Environmental Health, Master’s Thesis Research
Practicum: Bethesda Care
* Also known as the "mini-residency", not available for credit. Residents can obtain copies of materials used and attend lectures free of charge.
** These courses are offered every other year only, usually on even years.