EMPLOYEE HEALTH/OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NURSE IN THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
This paper presents an overview of the employee health/occupational health nurse specialty as practiced in the university hospital setting. To this end, the paper defines the role of the occupational nurse discussing the specialty's orientation to the population as a whole in the university hospital setting. This is followed by a brief discussion of the importance of community assessment in planning occupational heath programs at the hospital. Examples of typical occupational health nurse activities are then provided. The next section of the paper reviews the occupational nurse's role at the levels of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, while the final section of the paper discusses the specialty's orientation toward the concept that the individual can affect the community of the university hospital as a whole.
Description of Occupational Health Nurse Role and Its Focus on the Population as a Whole
Strasser (2005) reports that the occupational/employee health nurse is a specialty practice focusing on worker populations and associated community groups. In the University Hospital setting, the role of the nurse is to focus on promotion and restoration of health, prevention of illness and injury, and protection from work-related hazards. The key focus, in this regard, is upon not only individuals but the entire worker population of the hospital as a whole. Indeed, it is this holistic focus which, according to Garrett (2005) has led to an increasingly expanded role of the occupational nurse, one in which the nurse has a sufficiently broad knowledge base that he or she is interactive with not only workers but also with their families, with stakeholders in communities, and with associated governmental organizations.
Evidence that occupational nurses do have this community focus can be seen simply by examining some of their programs. For example, DeCo...