Development of a Comprehensive Occupational Health Competency Framework for Nigerian Medical Residency Training Programs

Nigerian physicians, regardless of specialty, encounter occupationally induced diseases and work-related health presentations, yet occupational medicine competencies are systematically absent from postgraduate medical residency training curricula. This doctoral study developed, validated, and piloted a comprehensive occupational health competency framework for Nigerian medical residency training programs. A five-phase research design was employed. Phase One conducted a gap analysis of occupational health content in residency curricula of six specialties through document review and 50 faculty interviews across twelve teaching hospitals in South West, North Central, and South East Nigeria. Phase Two conducted global curriculum benchmarking against WHO, ACGME, and RCPCH occupational health competency standards. Phase Three used modified Delphi methodology with 45 occupational medicine specialists, general physicians, and training regulators to achieve consensus on competency domains and learning outcomes. Phase Four piloted the framework in a 12-week embedded curriculum module with 120 residents across three specialties and two teaching hospitals. Phase Five evaluated competency acquisition through objective structured clinical examination and knowledge assessments pre and post training. Competency acquisition significantly improved across all six domains (p less than 0.001), with clinical occupational history-taking demonstrating the greatest gain. The study delivers an original, consensus-validated, and empirically piloted occupational health competency framework for Nigerian medical education and recommends adoption by the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and the West African College of Physicians. Keywords: occupational health competency, medical education, residency training, curriculum development, Nigeria.