Background
Most people spend a third of their adult lives at work and “occupation” is an important determinant of human health. Each year 167.000 workers die in the EU-27 of the consequences of their work, according to estimates from the International Labour Office (2009). As many as 159.500 of these fatalities can be attributed to work-related diseases.
In Europe, the coverage of occupational health services ranges from 15% to 95% and the number of specialists trained in occupational medicine remains small (European Union Directive 1989/391/ECC, World Health Organisation, “Global Strategy on Workers’ Health”, 2007).
In this respect, the teaching of occupational health issues to medical undergraduates is vital as most work-related health problems will be managed by general practitioners and others. So far, the teaching of occupational medicine and health shows substantial differences in quality and quantity across European countries and is complicated by limited teaching time, coupled with large number of students. Educational institutions are increasingly aware of the need to provide a common and updated training at undergraduate level (European Association of Schools of Occupational Medicine (EASOM), Leuven 2008; International Commission on Occupational Health, Glasgow 2008).
The consortium partners initiated the basic concept of the EMUTOM project during EASOM meetings and Summer Schools in 2008 and 2009. They submitted in February 2010 a proposal “A European Module on Undergraduate Teaching in Occupational Medicine (EMUTOM) for the Erasmus Programme under the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union. The European Commission Education and Training did select this project and recommended it for EU funding : the project started in October 2010 for a duration of 2 years.
