Occupational Health Nursing- Safety and Healthcare Practice for Workers

Occupational health nursing is a specialized area of nursing which deals with injured workers who got hurt on the job. If you are one who wishes to make a career in the field of nursing, then you must have basic knowledge of all the branches pertaining to this field. This way, you can make the right decisions and proceed further with the necessary education and training. Read this post to gain relevant insights on occupational health nursing.

What is Occupational Health Nursing?

In this special area of the nursing discipline, the professionals offer safety and health services and programs for workers, community groups, and worker populations. According to the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, the focus of this healthcare practice remains on improving and restoring health, preventing injury and illness, and protecting from environmental and work-related hazards.

The professionals who have occupational health nursing jobs possess the knowledge of both health and business, which they use, along with their health care expertise to create a balance between the need for a healthful and safe work environment.

Different Faculties of Occupational Health Nursing

Professionals in this specialized area of nursing need to have many qualities apart from having occupational health nursing certifications. The existence of the employment of a specialized nurse for an industrial area dates back to 1867. There have been many famous personalities from this field, but some have made their mark more than others.

Bernardo Ramazzini- He is considered as the pioneer of occupational health. He produced a completely new concept regarding the effect of social condition and work on the health of the workers.

The most famous institution for occupational health nursing in Australia is the ‘Australian College of Occupational Health Nurses.’ It is the professional body in this field. In order to meet the need for professional nurse practitioners in the government, commerce, and industry, this body was established in 1976.

Core Competencies of Occupational Health Nursing

In order to ensure that only efficient individuals join as occupational health nurses, candidates are required to have not only knowledge and skills, but, also some competencies. Thus, if you want to get an occupational health nursing job, you must be competent in the following things:

Promotion of a safe and healthy culture by generating an environment that gives support to the optimal mental and physical health of the client, utilizing the best evidence-based methods and practice

Good clinical care and good knowledge of the general principles of management and evaluation of occupational risks to health and the capability of duty fulfillment and strategic planning

Data usage to find trends and control the risks related to health and safety, and also to notify and apply the policy decisions at the systems, organizational, and departmental levels

Capability to detect exposures and risks, and consider effective controls to decrease them

To be ethical while practicing nursing and also maintain competency, the legal scope of practice; acquire and maintain the required certifications and licenses

Coordination of client care to raise the health of the patient, administer injury and illness, avert disability, and assist in the worker’s return to work

Good understanding of the environment of business and how it affects the community’s health

As these competencies are a must for practicing occupational health nursing, you should work on them right away.

Difference between Occupational Health Nursing and Environmental Health Nursing

The terms occupational health nursing and environmental health nursing are used together most of the times. However, there are differences between the two.

In occupational health nursing, the professionals mainly focus on providing safety and health programs to workers and protecting them from work-related hazards.

In environmental health nursing, the professionals detect the various problems of the environment that can affect the well being and health of those who reside in that specific area. A nurse who has specialized in this area can concentrate on various environments.

Methodology for Occupational Health Nursing

The methodology used in occupational health nursing in Australia is as following:

Organize and provide programs and services
Generate an interdisciplinary approach for health care and support the right of the employees to cost-effective and prevention-oriented safety and health programs
Carry out research on how workplace exposures affect the workers and collecting data on health and risk
Supervise the worker’s, community groups, and worker population, etc.
Persuade workers to take charge of their own health by educating them on health and programs on health management like smoking cessation, stress management, using medical services effectively, fitness or exercise, etc.

This is how occupational health nurses detect the safety and health needs in the workplace.

What are the risk assessments for Occupational Health Nursing?

The discipline of occupational health nursing concentrates on bringing forth the workers’ healthcare needs in the workplace. The professionals mainly focus on endorsing health and reduce the risk of the workers who are exposed to the health stressors related to one’s occupations inside the work environment.

A health risk assessment includes detecting the risks that remain in the working environment or generate from the activities related to work. Also, the extent of the involved risks is measured. While doing this, the precautions and their effectiveness are considered.

The most crucial function of occupational health nurses is to detect health risks within the workplace. As health risks are identified, proper health protection measures can be taken. For example, providing education on using the right equipment for personal protection is a measure that can be taken. This way, the risk of disease can be reduced.

Practicing occupational health nurses use walk-throughs to detect the work hazards when the workers carry out their respective tasks. Through this activity, the professionals become acquainted with the environment of the workplace, work practices, methods and processes involved with the production, equipment handling, etc.

Different Provisions of Occupational Health Services

Occupational health services are assigned with crucial preventive functions and can be held responsible for giving the employers, employees or workers, and representatives advice on taking care of the requirements for building and sustaining a working environment that is safe and healthy. This will generate optimal mental and physical health regarding work.

The meaning of the provision of occupational health services is to conduct work activities that are aimed at giving protection and promotion to the safety, well-being, and health of the workers. Apart from this, bettering the working environment and conditions for the workers is also a provision of occupational health services. Occupational health professionals provide these services. They either perform individually or act as a part of a unit working for the organization.

The scope of practice for occupational health services is very broad. It is not only limited to the activities carried out by the service. The multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral activities of occupational health services involve other specialists than the professionals associated in this field. These specialists can be from inside the enterprise or from the outside and might extend to include the workers, employers, etc. involved in the activities.

To make sure the involvement happens effectively, it is required to have a well-coordinated and well-developed system inside the workplace. The infrastructure necessary for providing occupational health services must cover all the necessary operative, organizational, and administrative systems.

Other than this, occupational hygiene, medicine, and safety can be practiced independently or jointly with the same occupational health service.

Different mechanisms to implement occupational health service

For the successful implementation of occupational health service, it is necessary to develop different strategies. Few effective strategies can include the following:

Removal of the hazard or risk from the workplace at the time when it is still possible
Replacement of the hazards with the products and processes which are less hazardous
Using safe technology
Modification of the working condition
A collaboration of the production and the activities concerned with the workers’ safety
Innovating remedies like separating workers from exposures
Managerial remedies like restricting the time the workers remain exposed to likely risky exposures
Distribution of equipment for personal protection like gloves, eye protection, respirators, etc.

This is an overview of the specialized field of occupational health nursing. Using this information, you can prepare your academic papers or take necessary measurements to get into this course.

Need help with your paper on occupational health nursing? Get instant assistance from the experts of MyAssignmenthelp.com

Do you need help with a paper on occupational health nursing? Well, you can relax and get assistance from the experts of MyAssignmenthelp.com. We have the best individuals in our team who can provide you with all the help you need to write a great paper.

Our experts are highly experienced in this field. It helps them to know what to include in the assignments to make it of the highest quality. They use the correct structure, style, language, tone, etc. appropriate for the type of paper at hand. With the copies you will receive from MyAssignmenthelp.com, you can easily impress even the strictest professor.

If you are always late to submit your academic papers, then you must get help for academic writing service from our experts. Place your trust in us, and you will always get your order on time. You can forget about your deadline worries as we never fail to deliver assignments on time.

Do you hate to proofread? Our professional editors and proofreaders can check your paper and eliminate every type of error that can ruin your chances of scoring an impressive grade.