Health is influenced by every aspect of one’s life. For many people their work plays a large role in their life and consequently in their health. The contribution of the occupational health nurse (OHN) is that she affects people in and through their place of work. She is not limited to their health only in terms of how their work affects it, but she also affects all aspects of their health. Employers are realizing that the impact of employees’ poor health on their businesses is negatively affecting productivity and increasing costs (Redmond & Kalina, 2009). Thus, it is important that nurses are present even in the workplace to promote healthy behaviors and environments, maintain health status, and restore diminished health.
An accurate assessment is extremely valuable to the occupational health nurse. It ensures that her intervention, whether for health promotion, maintenance, or restoration is useful and received well by the employees. This assessment data may also need to be communicated to the managing body to demonstrate the value of the nurse’s role and the intervention (Lukes, 2010).
The occupational health nurse utilizes health promotion, which seeks to improve one's health and prevent illness and injury before it becomes an issue. For example, after assessing a factory, an OHN may find a lack of appropriate personal protective equipment provided for work with toxic materials or a lack of use from employees (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). From this assessment, she can advocate for better supplies or educate the employees on the importance of using them. In all work environments, the OHN may find through a survey of the workers that many of them are obese and not aware of the risks of being overweight. She co...
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... should not leave the valued skills they have learned about the nursing process at the doors of their nursing school following graduation. Instead, they should continue to use the nursing process throughout their career regardless of the population they are working with.
Works Cited
Lukes, E. (2010). The nursing process and program planning. American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, 58(1), 5-7. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from CINAHL Plus with Full Text.
Redmond, M., & Kalina, C. (2009). A successful occupational health nurse-driven health
promotion program to support corporate sustainability. AAOHN Journal, 57(12), 507-514. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2008). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in
the community (7th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby, Inc.
Nurses need to be physically and mentally able to deliver their duties to ensure the safety and health of those they care for. Thus, occupational stress among nurses is significant.
...ter for obese individuals than for average weight individuals. The healthier workers are, the fewer medical services they use. The five leading causes of death in the U.S., heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes — are directly linked to unhealthy lifestyles. Clearly, encouraging healthful habits presents an opportunity to improve workers’ well being, reduce the need for medical services and help control costs.
Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) nursing programs prepare students to deliver primary healthcare to women throughout their lifespan. This nursing specialty program consists of in-depth theory, pathos-physiology, research application, pharmacological therapy, and critical thinking skills based on clinical studies. Prospective nursing students are expected to meet the requirements of the nursing program, including full-range comprehension of reproductive-gynecologic health. Prospective students should seek accredited nursing programs that meets the guidelines for women's health nursing education established by the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioners of Women's Health. Prospective nursing students should conduct the proper research to determine if the institution has obtained accreditation through the National Association of Nurse Practitioners.
The people in the workplace can be categorize into two groups: the employer and the employees. The employees work for their employer and in turn the employer has the duty and responsibility to ensure that the minimum safety requirements are met. However, employers are not required to provide health insurance benefits to their employees. More often than not, providing health insurance benefits is very costly to the employer and in an attempt to mitigate the costs, employers’ encourage employee participation in various healthy lifestyle programs and initiatives as well as providing incentives for their participation in such programs. These kinds of action are not always met with enthusiasm, some find it unreasonable to be expected to do so on their own time to change their lifestyle to suit their employers.
Health care workers experience adverse effects from occupational stress. This type of stress is detrimental to the workers, patients, and the hospital itself. To respond to this ongoing problem, stress felt by workers should be reported, and treatment should be provided by the hospital. This will help reduce or ultimately eliminate occupational stress by deducing the sources that are causing or contributing to the stress, and by offering treatment options, it will alleviate the burden felt by workers. Hospital policy should enstate a mandatory session where they can discuss signs of occupational stress and the available treatment options. This will go a long way towards creating positive work environments, and interactions. This hospital policy,
campaign and technical assistance to promote the benefits of worksite health promotion. A new CDC
While the strain on the health care system is evidently a major issue, poor health of employees also has been proven to negatively affect the overall performance in the workplace. Alternatively, good health in the workplace has been proven to reduce absenteeism, reduce the costs of disability and dru...
Nurses play a significant role in inspiring other nurses to embrace some of the qualities every nurse should ideally possess. In the end, it is important that these nurses participate in a cycle of motivation that encourages others to grow and learn within the profession.
Healthcare is a continuous emerging industry across the world. With our ever changing life styles and the increased levels of pollution across the world more and more people are suffering from various health issues. Nursing is an extremely diverse profession and among the highest educated with several levels ranging from a licensed practical nurse (LPN) to a registered nurse (RN) on up to a Doctorate in Nursing. Diane Viens (2003) states that ‘The NP is a critical member of the workforce to assume the leadership roles within practice, education, research, health systems, and health policy’.
The career of a registered nurse is one of the most interesting professions in the medical field, because not only do they help to improve the health of their patients, they also help their patients to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Registered nurses work to promote health, prevent disease, and help patients cope with illness. Their job is to help patients get their health back on track, and prevent increased visits to the physician. When providing care directly to the patient, they observe, assess, and record symptoms, reactions, and progress. They do this to see where the patient’s health stands and prevent further illness or health problems if such occurs. Registered Nurses help to develop and manage nursing plans, and instruct the patient and their
Rush, S., Fergy, S., Wells, D., 1996. Nursing Process. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 05 December 2013].
Nursing has always been a key career in the health care system. Although it is not often focused on in media and stories surrounding health care, nursing is a career of great importance. If any patient was asked about their experience at a hospital or a care center, many will mention the capability and care that they received from the nurses. The health care system could not function efficiently, if at all, if nurses were not present to perform their part. Nurses are more than just physicians support staff. Of interest in this paper is why people choose to study nursing in university or college. From students just graduating high school to mature student who have prior degrees or education, nursing is a popular choice as a path to study
Assessing is the first phase of the nursing process, and it refers to the ones ability of identifying the ongoing nature of the condition. Assessment includes; the collecting of data from the patient or regarding the patient for examples one’s vital signs , the reviewing of the collected information , recognising of the patients problem , and also detecting of the significances among problems. Any information for patients assessment can be retrieved by observing, ques...
We, as people in the workforce, are depended on to follow through with work commitments. A healthy employee is able to do more and feel well enough to enjoy it. We strive to do our best but how can we when we have low morale at the office. Healthy employees directly impact the bottom-line of all companies, from the sole proprietorship to the large corporation (1996). Keeping health-care costs low, boosting morale, increasing productivity, and reducing the absent rate is a payoff that every good business owner should recognize. When a small business is trying to become larger, having employees who are healthy and stress free is important. Losing a member of an already small number due to being ill is not the way to succeed. Working in an environment that is happy and productive is the perfect place to work, regardless of what the job is.
Workers of every organization need to embrace the culture of living a healthy lifestyle rather than implementing specialized health programs and insurance plans (Goetzel, 2012). Coca-Cola Company initially perceived health and well-being as only integrated into the safety programs that employees are given. The company needs to distinguish between health and wellness from safety concerns. Many governments have encouraged wellness programs through the Affordable Care Act; this raises the legal limits on the penalties imposed on the employees by employers for the health-contingent wellness plans (Baicker,