Occupational Health Nursing
Although there are many types of nursing practices in the world, every year one week is dedicated to celebrating the nurses who have devoted their practice specifically to occupational health medicine. Occupational nursing dates back to the end of the 1800s with the first record of a nurse taking care of Pennsylvania coal miners and their families.
Through industry growth in the 20th century, factories employed nurses to care for the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and to address issues that challenged workers health due to World War I, labor shortages and to help cut costs of the new workers comp laws during that timeframe.
Purpose of Occupational Health Nursing
According to the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, $1 trillion is spend annually from poor employee health costs. Occupational Health Nurses’ job is to help maximize employee productivity and to reduce costs by lowering “disability claims, fewer on-the-job injuries and to improve absentee rates.” These nurses are leaders, managers, and business personnel that help companies, and employees through their use of knowledge of occupational health medicine, reducing costs and managing employee health and safety.
Responsibilities of an Occupational Health Nurse:
- Case Management
- Counselling and crisis intervention
- Health Promotion and risk reduction
- Legal & regulatory compliance
- Worker and workplace hazard detection
Amerisafe Occupational Health & Safety
Need an Occupational Health Nurse on your job site? At Amerisafe Group, not only are we the safety experts, our staff of Occupational Health Nurses are your solution for all of your staffing & medical service needs. We provide various workplace on-site testing and first-aid services to ensure safe productivity, so your employees can get back to work on site. We have the professionals to ensure excellence. Let us show you how our safety and medical leadership skills can help your company succeed in occupational health and safety.
