The committee approached this topic with an appreciation of the increasing number of roles that primary care physicians are asked to assume. The committee also recognized the broad responsibilities and multiple demands that confront these hardworking individuals. Thus, the committee's approach was to define an ideal goal, and then to focus its recommendations on practical ways to integrate the necessary information and skills into existing practice and education patterns. The committee also recom- mended system changes to facilitate the ability of primary care practitioners to actively participate in occupational and environmental medicine. The committee's report contains a discussion of the extent to which occupa- tional and environmental factors affect the practice of primary care medicine.
Precise estimates are impossible because incidence and prevalence data are inadequate.
But, with the paucity of specialists, there is no question that diagnosis, treatment, and the opportunity for prevention in occupational and environmental medicine are part of the practice of primary care physicians to a greater or lesser extent. It is also likely that the role of primary care physicians in this area will continue to increase. The significance of this expanded information to the practice of medicine at the local level can be predicted. In identifying problems, the committee attempted to look to their root cause and make recommendations on that basis. For example, the committee felt that it was insufficient to simply state that the U.S. workers' compensation system is a deterrent to physician involvement without looking to the reasons and the ways in which the primary care physician's role in treating workers under this system could be facilitated.