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Preventive Medicine Physicians
Apply knowledge of general preventive medicine and public health issues to promote health care to groups or individuals, and aid in the prevention or reduction of risk of disease, injury, disability, or death. May practice population-based medicine or diagnose and treat patients in the context of clinical health promotion and disease prevention.
Also Known As:
Occupational Medicine Physician
Occupational Physician
Physician
Preventive Medicine Physician
Primary Clinician
Public Health Officer
Public Health Physician
Wages
Annual wages for Preventive Medicine Physicians in United States
Job Outlook
Average
New job opportunities are likely in the future
United States
2034 Projected Employment
349,300
3% Change From 2024
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Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of prescribed risk reduction measures or other interventions.
- Document or review comprehensive patients' histories with an emphasis on occupation or environmental risks.
- Identify groups at risk for specific preventable diseases or injuries.
- Direct or manage prevention programs in specialty areas such as aerospace, occupational, infectious disease, and environmental medicine.
- Design or use surveillance tools, such as screening, lab reports, and vital records, to identify health risks.
- Teach or train medical staff regarding preventive medicine issues.
- Provide information about potential health hazards and possible interventions to the media, the public, other health care professionals, or local, state, and federal health authorities.
- Coordinate or integrate the resources of health care institutions, social service agencies, public safety workers, or other organizations to improve community health.
- Direct public health education programs dealing with topics such as preventable diseases, injuries, nutrition, food service sanitation, water supply safety, sewage and waste disposal, insect control, and immunizations.
- Coordinate or integrate the resources of health care institutions, social service agencies, public safety workers, or other organizations to improve community health.
- Deliver presentations to lay or professional audiences.
- Direct or manage prevention programs in specialty areas such as aerospace, occupational, infectious disease, and environmental medicine.
- Supervise or coordinate the work of physicians, nurses, statisticians, or other professional staff members.
- Prepare preventive health reports, including problem descriptions, analyses, alternative solutions, and recommendations.
- Document or review comprehensive patients' histories with an emphasis on occupation or environmental risks.
- Develop or implement interventions to address behavioral causes of diseases.
- Identify groups at risk for specific preventable diseases or injuries.
- Perform epidemiological investigations of acute and chronic diseases.
- Design, implement, or evaluate health service delivery systems to improve the health of targeted populations.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")