Medical education for obstetricians and gynecologists should incorporate environmental health.

Abstract

Obstetricians-gynecologists can protect the reproductive health of women, men, and their offspring from environmental hazards through preconception and prenatal counseling and encouraging patients to take actions to reduce environmental exposures. Although obstetricians-gynecologists are well positioned to prevent hazardous exposures, education on environmental health in medical education is limited. The Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of George Washington University convened a meeting to begin integration of environmental health topics into medical education for obstetricians-gynecologists. Several avenues were identified to incorporate environmental health topics into medical education including continuing education requirements, inclusion of environmental health questions on board certification examinations and the creation of a curriculum on environmental health specific to obstetrics-gynecology.