Our Occupational Medicine Rotation

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) Program, located in Cincinnati, Ohio offers occupational medicine residents an exciting opportunity to engage in public health. Through on-site investigations, medical evaluations, exposure assessments, and office consultations, the HHE Program gives you the opportunity to evaluate workplace health hazards, talk with employees and employers, and gain new knowledge first hand! Rotations should be for a minimum of 4 weeks.

What is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health?

As a vital part of CDC, NIOSH was established to help ensure safe and healthy working conditions by providing research, evaluation, information, recommendations, and training in the field of occupational safety and health.

NIOSH professionals in the HHE Program help protect workers by:

• evaluating occupational disease, injury, and worksite exposures
• performing medical surveillance of occupational disease and injury
• performing exposure assessments of hazardous conditions and materials
• developing and evaluating protective measures
• conducting and developing new research methods
• disseminating findings to workers, unions, and managers
• making recommendations to reduce workplace hazards, illnesses, and injuries

State-of-the-art laboratories, dedicated researchers, and the ability to translate research into practice enable NIOSH to forward its vision of delivering on the Nation’s promise: safety and health at work for all people through research and prevention.

What is the Health Hazard Evaluation Program?

During HHEs, NIOSH scientists provide medical, industrial hygiene and epidemiologic assistance in worksites where occupational health hazards and illness and injury outbreaks occur. NIOSH, a federal agency, has right of entry into workplaces all over the United States when requested by an employer, employees, or employee representatives.

During worksite visits, you will participate in labor-management meetings, tour the facility, interview workers, and perform medical examinations if needed. Activities may include epidemiologic studies, biological and environmental testing, and review of medical records and worksite illness/injury logs. You will work alongside epidemiologists, physicians, nurses, safety engineers, industrial hygienists, statisticians, toxicologists, and other health professionals.

What are the goals of this rotation?

• To involve you in the various phases of worksite evaluations
• To broaden your scope of expertise in occupational safety and health
• To provide you experience in the role of NIOSH occupational safety and health professionals

We recently updated the tutorial portion of the resident rotator curriculum to better meet the core competencies in preventive and occupational medicine of the American Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). These requirements were stated in the ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Preventive Medicine document, effective July 1, 2011.

To address these core competencies, we have developed brief training modules dealing with topics such as occupational lung diseases, skin disorders, and noise-induced hearing loss. Using examples from actual workplace evaluations, the modules focus on how the HHE Program approaches, assesses, and evaluates these important issues.

Every effort will be made for you to accompany an HHE team on a worksite evaluation during the rotation. You will function as a member of the medical team and may be involved in study design, survey and questionnaire design, confidential medical interviews of employees, medical record reviews, data analysis, and report writing. You will also research various occupational health topics to respond to public inquiries.

In addition to the other activities, you will choose a specific topic related to an ongoing HHE or other NIOSH project. You will review and summarize the relevant scientific literature and present your findings to our staff at the end of the rotation. If you participated in a field investigation, you will include a brief summary of your experience and summarize the available qualitative or quantitative findings.

How can you find out more?

To learn more about our Occupational Medicine Rotation or secure your spot in our rotation schedule email us at OccMedRotationsHETAB@cdc.gov or contact one of our Rotation Advisors:

Other Resources

Occupational Medicine Brochure (2,153KB; 4 pgs)

Occupational Medicine Poster (234KB; 1 pg)

Act now! Scheduling is done on a first come, first served basis.
We look forward to seeing you here!