10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The OEM-AOBPM exam has 200 questions and runs 4 hours.
These 10 free OEM-AOBPM questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Certification in Occupational/Environmental Medicine blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
Domain 1: Treatment 20% of exam
Question 1
Four days after lifting a crate, a 36-year-old warehouse worker has improving, localized low-back pain. He walks normally and has normal leg strength, sensation, and reflexes. He has no fever, cancer history, saddle symptoms, or bowel or bladder dysfunction. Repeated bending aggravates the pain, but he comfortably demonstrates the light inventory tasks available to him, with freedom to change position. Which work prescription fits these findings?
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Correct answer: D - Modified inventory duty with temporary task restrictions and reassessment
Domain 2: Rules and regulations 15% of exam
Question 2
An employee at a manufacturing establishment that must maintain OSHA injury records sustains a new, work-related, nondisplaced toe fracture confirmed by radiography. Treatment consists only of ice. No days away, restricted duty, loss of consciousness, amputation, or inpatient admission occurs. Under federal OSHA rules, how should the employer classify the event?
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Correct answer: D - Enter it on the OSHA 300 Log; no severe-event report is required
Question 3
During an OSHA-accepted quantitative fit test, a medically cleared employee obtains an overall fit factor of 80 with a negative-pressure half-mask respirator. Its assigned protection factor is 10. The employee also performs a satisfactory user seal check. The program administrator proposes accepting the result because 80 exceeds 10. How should the occupational physician respond?
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Correct answer: C - The test failed; adjust or change the facepiece and repeat fit testing
Domain 3: Epi/Biostat 5% of exam
Question 4
An unmatched case-control study enrolls 80 workers with mesothelioma and 80 controls sampled from the population that produced the cases. Previous asbestos exposure is documented in 60 cases and 20 controls; all remaining participants are classified as unexposed. The investigators did not measure disease incidence in an exposed and an unexposed cohort. Which association estimate can be calculated directly from this sampling design?
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Correct answer: B - An odds ratio of 9.0, using the exposure odds in cases and controls
Domain 5: Toxicology 20% of exam
Question 5
A nonsmoking laboratory technician develops headache and nausea after a methylene chloride spill in a poorly ventilated room. Conventional pulse oximetry reads 99%, but blood co-oximetry shows a carboxyhemoglobin concentration of 12%. No fire, engine, or other combustion source was present. What explains the carboxyhemoglobin finding?
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Correct answer: A - Metabolic conversion of methylene chloride to carbon monoxide
Question 6
Following a concentrated organophosphate pesticide spill, an agricultural worker is decontaminated and receives airway support, oxygen, atropine, and pralidoxime. Oxygenation has improved. His pulse is now 122/min, but copious airway secretions and wheezing persist; his pupils remain small. Which finding is the most useful immediate endpoint for further atropine titration?
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Correct answer: A - Control of bronchial secretions with improved air entry
Domain 6: Hearing 5% of exam
Question 7
An audiometric review provides the following right-ear thresholds at 2,000, 3,000, and 4,000 Hz, respectively: baseline 5, 10, and 10 dB HL; current 20, 25, and 20 dB HL. A repeat audiogram confirms the change, which is determined to be work-related. The left ear is unchanged, no age correction is applied, and no other recording criterion is present. Which conclusion about a standard threshold shift (STS) and recordability follows under federal OSHA hearing rules?
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Correct answer: C - An STS is present, but the hearing-loss recording threshold is not met
Domain 7: Dermatology 5% of exam
Question 8
A nurse develops recurrent itchy eczema over the hands and wrists a day after prolonged glove use, without immediate hives, rhinitis, or wheezing. Patch testing identifies allergy to a rubber accelerator present in her gloves. The manufacturer confirms that the stocked nitrile and natural-rubber latex gloves both contain that accelerator. Beyond treating the current eczema, which change best prevents recurrence while preserving required barrier protection?
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Correct answer: B - Use accelerator-free gloves verified as suitable for her clinical tasks
Domain 8: Respiratory/industrial hygiene 20% of exam
Question 9
Asthma has been confirmed in a commercial baker by variable airflow obstruction. Her symptoms began after several symptom-free years in the bakery and now occur mainly during working weeks. She is clinically stable. The remaining diagnostic question is whether her asthma varies with workplace exposure. Which investigation most directly addresses that question?
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Correct answer: B - Serial peak-flow measurements with a work/off-work diary
Domain 9: Reproductive 2% of exam
Question 10
A battery-recycling worker wears dusty work clothes home and leaves them in the laundry area used by his pregnant partner. Lead is detected on the clothing and household surfaces. His partner and their 3-year-old child are receiving medical evaluation, and household remediation has begun. Which workplace measure most directly interrupts continued transfer of lead to this household?
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Correct answer: D - Keep workwear at work for laundering; provide changing and showering