Compulsory teaching of occupational health: impact on attitude of medical students in Brazil and Germany

Purpose To assess medical students' attitude toward occupational health (OH) in Brazil and Germany before and after a compulsory OH course. Methods A questionnaire regarding the attitude toward OH was completed by medical students at the beginning of the OH teaching term at the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba, Brazil (n = 79), and at both medical schools in Munich, Germany (n = 266), in 2009/2010. The change in the assessed qualities over the course period was measured repeating the survey at the end of the teaching term (n = 193; 56%). Results Overall, attitude toward OH was relatively low in both countries (mean 3.0 +/- SD 1.2 on a scale from 1 = very low to 6 = very high) and students did not consider OH as a career option. However, Brazilian medical students rated the importance of OH statistically significantly higher than German medical students. Students in both countries considered their knowledge of OH low (2.2 +/- 0.9). Not only self-assessed knowledge of OH (mean difference 1.5; 95% confidence interval 1.3-1.6) but also interest in OH (mean difference 0.2; 95% CI 0.06-0.4) improved statistically significantly over the teaching term. Conclusions A negative attitude toward OH accompanied by little knowledge of OH seems to be a global problem. However, we have shown that this might be improved through adequate training in OH. The long-term effect still needs to be evaluated. Nevertheless, our results are promising and should encourage medical schools around the globe to include OH as a compulsory subject in medical training