The vital role of occupational health nurses and the challenges facing them
Ruba Al Hisham
Dubai Health Authority, UAE
: Androl Gynecol: Curr Res
Abstract
Occupational health nurses play many roles, in¬cluding but not limited to clinician, manager, educa¬tor, researcher, consultant and case manager. These roles may be played independently or integrated into the health care team through collabora¬tion with other disciplines’ professionals. Professional activities may include health protection, health promo¬tion, or both, designed to reduce health risks, support productivity, improve workers’ quality of life, and be cost-effective for the organization. In addition occupational health services, provided at the workplace to address the health care needs of working populations have been identified as an important component of the public health strategy. These services can also make a significant contribution to other government initiatives, such as; reducing health inequalities, reducing social exclusion and sickness absence and by protecting and promoting the health of the working population occupational health services can help to reduce the overall burden of ill health. Access to occupational health services for primary prevention and control of work-related injuries and illnesses by the global workforce is limited (World Health Organization [WHO], 2013). From the WHO survey of 121 (61%) participating countries, only one-third of the responding countries provided occupational health services to more than 30% of their workers (2013). In this presentation the main topic is the vital role of occupational health nurse according to WHO role definition and the challenges facing this profession. ruba_5271@hotmail.com
Biography
