Practicum Phase

The principal objective of the practicum phase is to provide residents the opportunity to assume progressive responsibility for the practice of occupational medicine in a range of settings, while achieving each resident's individual educational objectives. The practicum phase training has been a recognized strength of the UCI residency program. The excellent facility and resources of the COEH provide an outstanding setting for clinical and didactic training, while our close collaboration with occupational medicine programs in the region makes available a range of outstanding practicum training experiences. The major components of the practicum phase include field site placements, COEH clinical training, COEH didactics, and the individual research experience. Conceptually, the program divides the field site rotations into three types of experiences: corporate or worksite-based occupational medicine programs; regulatory or public health agencies; and comprehensive occupational medicine clinical practices. Residents complete at least one rotation in each setting. Residents may also undertake clinical training at UCI in areas relevant to occupational medicine practice.

During the practicum phase, residents spend most of their time in field site rotations which reflect the broad range of "real world" practice opportunities. Within these rotations, the residents are exposed to all aspects of practice including clinical care and evaluation of workers; medical surveillance; organization and management of occupational medicine programs; work place exposure assessment and control methods; and collection and analysis of health data. Meanwhile, residents receive clinical, didactic, and research training through interaction with the program faculty at the COEH. The training at the COEH provides continuity between the residents' other training experiences.