LFOM - Occupational Medicine

Introduction

This course is for doctors interested in occupational medicine and who are seeking to improve their knowledge base and skills. The course is run jointly by the ICGP and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI).

Course principal: Dr Conor McDonnell, email: conor.mcdonnell@icgp.ie
Course administrator: Ms Yvette Dalton, email: yvette.dalton@icgp.ie

Upcoming dates

Friday 29 - Saturday 30 September 2017

Course participants may be:

• Currently providing occupational health services to employers; or
• Considering future provision of occupational health services; or
• Seeking to improve their knowledge of occupational health matters for their working patients
• Occupational medicine specialist registrars
• GP specialist registrars may apply once they have written permission from their GP training scheme director and they are training in a general practice which provides an occupational medicine service i.e. they will have access to occupational medicine cases.

What is the aim of the course?

The aim of this course is to provide course participants with formal instruction in occupational medicine and to prepare them for the sitting of the LFOM examination and for work in a recognised professional manner in occupational medicine. LFOM candidates will have a broad knowledge of the adverse effects of work on health, and be able to demonstrate that they have practical experience of a specific aspect of this knowledge in their current occupational health practice. This is a two year course delivered through a combination of workshops and home study.

Objectives

This course aims to provide doctors with:

• Formal instruction in occupational medicine
• Guidance on accepted standards of provision of occupational health services including legislation, ethics and communication
• An overview of the identification, prevention and management of occupational hazards, injuries and illnesses
• Advice on how to access further information in occupational medicine and encouragement to participate in relevant on-going continuing medical education

Who can apply?

• Candidates must hold a medical qualification acceptable to the ICGP and FOM RCPI.
• Candidates must be registered and authorised to practice medicine by their appropriate national body
• This course is open to all registered general practitioners. GP specialist registrars may apply once they have written permission from their GP training scheme director and they are training in a general practice which provides an occupational medicine service.

• Candidates will be required to submit 7 occupational medicine clinical cases, 1 worksite visit report and 2 "other projects" over the two year course. Therefore, ideally candidates should have access to occupational medicine cases themselves.

Course structure

The course will follow a blended learning format. A time commitment of approximately six hours per week will be needed during the academic term. Two (one and a half day) workshops per academic year are organised as part of the course. The workshop will include a worksite visit. The duration of the course is two years.

Course material

Course material will be delivered and accessed through a password protected area on the ICGP website throughout the academic year. Course participants are encouraged to actively participate on the password protected web based discussion board.

Methods of assessment

In order to achieve a cert of satisfactory completion from the ICGP, participants will be required to:

• Submit the following course written work in year 1:
  • Six occupational medicine clinical cases
  • One of the occupational medicine clinical cases must be an occupational injury
  • One worksite visit report
• Submit the following course written work in year 2:
  • One clinical case and two "other projects". These may include policy documents on sharps injuries and exposure to bodily fluids, a pregnancy risk assessment, an ergonomic workstation assessment etc.
• Participate on the ICGP discussion board during year 1 and 2.
• Answer MCQs online at the end of each unit where available during year 1 and 2.

Ultimately, the aim of the distance learning course is to prepare candidates for the RCPI LFOM exam. The LFOM exam consists of two components:

• An MCQ paper
• Submission of a portfolio

The RCPI LFOM exam portfolio requirements are as follows:

• 4 clinical cases in occupational medicine that the candidate has managed. One of the clinical cases has to be an occupational injury.
• A report on a worksite visit

The ICGP distance learning course is an excellent preparatory course for the LFOM examination, as the ICGP course written work requirements are based on the RCPI LFOM Examination portfolio requirements and the ICGP Course written work may be submitted as the portfolio for the LFOM exam.

At the end of the written work for the ICGP course, each participant will have submitted 7 clinical cases, one worksite visit report and 2 "other projects" to the ICGP portfolio assessor. Each candidate will have received a mark and feedback on each piece of written work submitted. Candidates will then have the opportunity to improve their written work by taking the feedback on board and making improvements to their written work. The candidates may then choose their preferred clinical cases and submit them with the occupational injury case and the worksite visit report as part of their LFOM examination portfolio.

Candidates who succeed the end-point examination will be awarded the Licentiate of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

For the MFOM (membership exam), once a candidate passes the LFOM exam and intends to sit the MFOM exam, the MCQ result may be carried forward to the MFOM written exam, exempting the candidate from sitting MCQ paper 1.

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Testimonial

"Having completed the ICGP LFOM preparatory course earlier this year and subsequently passing the clinical cases and MCQ Exam I can highly recommend this course.

For busy doctors already practising occupational medicine and those considering this specialty, this course offers practical lectures, online course material and an interactive discussion board.

Importantly for post graduate learning, this course provides valuable support from course directors negotiating clinical cases and work place assessments required for LFOM portfolio including dilemmas encountered in daily practice.

The weekend workshops offer an enjoyable opportunity to discuss cases and learn from specialists in the field, as well as meet up with new colleagues and useful contacts for the future."

 Dr Sean Moffatt, GP & Sports Physician, Mayo