Providing help to those in a working environment to improve health and avoid risk can be a very rewarding job.  If you would like to do this from a nursing perspective, becoming an occupational health nurse might be a great option for you.

Overview

An occupational health nurse is a registered nurse who works to observe and assess the health status of workers taking special note of job risks and hazards.  The occupational health nurse, also known as an OHN, uses their education to recognize and prevent health effects from risk exposures in addition to treating the injuries and illnesses of workers.

The job of the occupational health nurse is also to help create health and safety programs to fit the type of work and environment that the workers find themselves in.  The occupational health nurse will usually help to create a healthy approach to health care in the working environment while advocating on the part of the employee to create and provide preventative and cost effective health and safety programs.

There are many different job titles that an occupational health nurse can hold and this is always growing.  Just a few of the options may include clinicians, educators, case managers, corporate directors, and even consultant.  The occupational health nurse may help in these roles with disease management, health of the environment, disaster planning, follow ups, emergency care for job related injuries, and return to work issues.  As you can see, the occupational nurse helps workers with work related illness and injuries and all of the fall out from it.

Working Conditions

There are many different conditions in which one might find themselves working as an occupational health nurse.  Some are found in classrooms, others in the boardroom, others still in the clinic, and even in the business setting.  Work schedule is generally Monday through Friday with a traditional schedule, but there are some variances to this.  The average salary is $63,500.

Academic Requirements

To become an occupational health nurse you will need to enter an occupational health nursing program.  To be eligible for the program you must first be a registered nurse or have a bachelor’s degree in nursing.  The occupational health nursing program will provide with you a Master’s degree or doctoral degree, dependent upon the program that you choose.