Links for Health Professionals

Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers a series of Case Studies in Environmental Medicine, discussing the presentation and management of specific acute and chronic toxic exposures. Link to this page to find the introductory page. Case studies can be done as an interactive activity online, and are also available on CD-ROM. CME, nursing CE, and CEUs can all be earned through completion of these modules. There are 16 studies in all, with both adult and pediatric topics of interest.

Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics: An association representing specialty clinics in the area of occupational and environmental medicine, AOEC has an extensive library of educational resources which can be accessed or ordered through their website.  The library includes downloadable Power Point presentations, as well as slide shows, handouts, interactive modules and other course materials designed for physicians and medical students.  The downloadable materials are free; most other items have a small ($10-20) fee associated. For a complete listing of available materials, follow this link.

National Environmental Education Foundation website has many on-line materials for healthcare providers:

• On-line curriculum for physicians & nurses to learn the basics of pediatric environmental health, part of its Children’s Environmental Health Faculty Champions Initiative.
• Learn how to take an environmental history & address issues such as asthma, environmental tobacco smoke, ultraviolet light, pesticides, & heavy metal (lead & mercury) exposure.
• Environmental history forms for use in the pediatric clinic. Link to this site to download the forms & instructions for administering the history.
• Environmental history forms specific to asthma management. Download the forms & guidelines for managing environmental triggers of asthma in children.
• A Pesticide Initiative, available here.

Physicians for Social Responsibility has a toolkit of materials that can be used to conduct environmental health screening & provide counseling in the pediatric clinic. The kit includes a timetable of which ages to discuss which environmental issues at well-child visits, a reference card for physicians on environmental hazards, “prescription pads” listing steps to take for prevention, & refrigerator magnets to hand to patients as reminders.

World Health Organization (WHO) report on Childhood Exposures: An increased risk of cancer, heart and lung disease in adults can result from exposures to certain environmental chemicals during childhood, the WHO said during a news conference on July 27, 2007. This finding is part of the first report ever issued by the agency focusing on children's special susceptibility to harmful chemical exposures at different stages of their growth.

The new volume of the Environmental Health Criteria series, Principles for Evaluating Health Risks in Children Associated with Exposure to Chemicals, is online here [PDF].