Occupational nursing

While it seems relatively straight forward, and pretty much common sense, to include information about safety risks and hazards in a job description, it is unclear whether this really is common practice. A study by Ramsay et al. (2006) examined the job descriptions of nurses from 29 Veterans Affairs hospitals from across the USA. The job descriptions were examined by an expert panel of occupational nurses for the degree to which they incorporated the 12 primary occupational safety and health risk factors which emergency department nurses face, as defined by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Surprisingly, virtually, none of the position descriptions included the key safety information. This seems like a missed opportunity, particularly given the importance of taking all possible steps to alert new employees to safety risks and hazards. 

In theory, the IH is responsible for chemical, biological,physical, and radioactive health hazards within the work environment. In practice, no one individual can be an expert in all of these areas. Control of workplace health hazards has become so complex that in workplaces where most or all of these hazards are present, the management of these hazards is assigned to a team of occupational health professionals. Such a team might include an occupational physician, occupational nurse, safety professional, health physicist (radiation protection), and others. Workplaces with high-risk microbiological exposures may also employ biological safety professionals. 

Do employees complain that new facilities, equipment, materials, or processes are hazardous Do any employees say they have been involved in job safety analysis or process review and are satisfied with the results Does the safety and health staff indicate ignorance of existing or potential hazards at the worksite Does the occupational nurse, doctor, or other healthcare provider understand the potential occupational diseases and health effects in this worksite ... 

Looking at the OSHA 200 log and, where applicable, first aid logs, are there patterns of illness or injury that should have been analyzed for previously undetected hazards Is there an occupational nurse or doctor on the woiksite Are employees suffering from ordinary illnesses encouraged to see a nearby healthcare provider Are the records of those visits analyzed for clusters of illness that might be woik related ... 

Whether Access to experts (for example. Certified Industrial Hygienists, Certified Safety Professionals, Occupational Nurses, or Engineers) is reasonably available to the site, based upon the nature, conditions, complexity, and hazards of the site ... 

Ergonomics Society, Australian Acoustical Society, College of Occupational Nursing, Australia and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine... 

Health surveillance should be supervised by a registered medical practitioner or, where appropriate, it should be done by a suitably qualified person (e.g. an occupational nurse). In the case of inspections for easily detectable symptoms like chrome ulceration or early signs of dermatitis, health surveillance should be done by a suitably trained responsible person. If workers could be exposed to substances listed in Schedule 6 of the COSHH Regulations, medical surveillance, under the supervision of an HSE employment medical adviser or a doctor appointed by HSE, is required. 

In the USA the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) determines standards of occupation health and safety at work and organises training and research facilities. The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970 applies to workers in industry, agriculture and construction sites and requires that employers must provide a place of work free from hazards likely to cause death or serious harm to employees Elsewhere, occupational nursing arrangements generally reflect the national emphasis placed on occupational health. 

Does the occupational nurse/doctor or other health care provider understand the potential occupational diseases and health effects in this worksite ... 

Industrial hygienists work closely with members of several other professions concerned with workplace health and safety, eg, occupational medicine, occupational health nursing, and safety engineering. AH of these groups are involved in the implementation of the laws that regulate workplace health and safety. In the United States the principal law is the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) (1) enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. 

MA 5 Health and Safety Executive s Medical Division agency nurses and occupational health nursing... 

Occupational health advice as part of primary health care nursing The fracture behaviour of polyethylene - A literature review First aid retention of knowledge survey... 

Medical surveillance programs range from support contracts with local hospitals or physicians to full-scale on-site occupational health organizations that include physicians, nurses, and technicians who are employed by prime contractors. The option selected depends on the size of the project, the nature of the hazards involved, the capabilities of local facilities, and the resources available. 

Director/Department Chairperson Health Occupations/Practical Nursing Albuquerque Public Schools Career Enrichment Center Albuquerque, New Mexico... 

Coordinator, Practical Nurse Program Skeston Public Schools—Health Occupations Hayti, Missouri... 

Reproductive Toxicity. Increased miscarriages were reported in one study of nurse-anesthetists exposed to trichloroethylene and other solvents (Corbett et al. 1974). A retrospective case-control study has should an approximate 3-fold increase in spontaneous abortion in women exposed to trichloroethylene and other solvents (Windham et al. 1991). Significant effects on sperm parameters were not observed in men occupationally exposed to trichloroethylene (Rasmussen et al. 1988). Adverse reproductive effects were not noted in humans that ingested water contaminated with trichloroethylene and other solvents (Byers et al. 

In a review of data on occupational chemicals that may contaminate breast milk (Byczkowski et al. 1994), it is stated that lead may be excreted in milk in amounts lethal to the infant and that the metal may be mobilized from bone stores to milk during the lactation period. Even when the concentration of lead in mother s milk is low, the absorption of metals into the systemic circulation of infants is generally high when they are on a milk diet. To better understand the sensitivity of the nursing infant to chemicals, epidemiological studies, chemical monitoring, and model development and application are needed. 

Alexander DL. 1989. Chronic lead exposure A problem for minority workers. Am Assoc Occup Health Nursing J 37 105-108. 

Cunningham M. 1986. Chronic occupational lead exposure The potential effect on sexual function and reproductive ability in male workers. American Association of Occupational Health Nursing Journal 34 277-279. 

A model describing transfer of -hexane via lactation from a mother to a nursing infant is also available (Fisher et al. 1997). Human milk/blood partition coefficients for 19 volatile organic chemicals including u-hexane were experimentally determined using samples from volunteers. These parameters were used to estimate the amount of w-hcxanc an infant would ingest from milk if the mother was occupationally exposed to w-hcxanc at the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) throughout a workday. 

Most of the assessment of toxicology and safety of therapeutics is focused on the patients who are to benefit from the new medicine. However, there are two other groups of individuals (each of which has different exposure profiles) that one must be concerned about the healthcare providers (nurses, pharmacists and physicians) who provide and/or administer the drugs and the individuals involved in manufacturing them. The concerns here are in the realm of occupational toxicology. 

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