Using hospital site visits for teaching occupational health.

ABSTRACT

In medical schools, the factory visit is an important ingredient of occupational health instruction at all levels. Usually the time allotted for teaching this subject in the undergraduate curriculum is limited; as a response to this constraint, the Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine has used its associated teaching hospitals as the "factory" since 1982. Following an introductory discussion, the students are divided into small groups and sent to various departments of the hospital--wards, kitchen, laundry, maintenance workshop, X-ray department, and surgery--to observe and evaluate the work environment. Following this activity, the students reconvene and discuss the health implications of what they have seen. This way of providing the factory visit is well accepted by the students, saves time, and contributes directly to the students' awareness of their own working environment.