Workplace Health & Safety

As a certifying body for occupational health nurses in the United States and Canada, the American Board for Occupational Health Nurses, Inc. (ABOHN) must ensure its certification examinations validly reflect current occupational health nurse practice. This report presents information from the ABOHN 2004 practice analysis. The study's primary purpose was to analyze areas of knowledge, skill, and ability for occupational health nurses as reflected by the tasks they perform to guide refinement of ABOHN's certification examinations. A valid and reliable survey instrument, containing demographic and job-related questions and 172 task statements was developed. A total of 5,586 surveys (4,921 Web-based and 665 paper) were made available to occupational health nurses throughout the United States and Canada. The usable response rate was 23.5% (N = 1,223). Decision rules were used to determine which survey tasks were appropriate for inclusion in Certified Occupational Health Nurse (COHN) and Certified Occupational Health Nurse Specialist (COHN-S) certification examination blueprints. The revised blueprints were used to develop new examinations. Study data also validated the existing ABOHN Case Management (CM) specialty examination blueprint, and verified occupational health nurse roles and responsibilities related to safety programs. Based on analysis of the safety-related items, ABOHN in collaboration with the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, has created a safety management credential (SM) and associated examination that certified occupational health nurses may use to verify their safety role proficiency.

The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System (CAVHS) spends $1 million annually on occupational illnesses and injuries. To address the problem of injuries among hospital employees, a retrospective case-control study was conducted to examine select risk factors for work-related injuries (WRI) among CAVHS employees. Study methods included a review of employee health charts and computer and manual databases from 1997 to 2002 (N = 2,050). The researchers found that WRI increased with age; WRI occurred more often in women than in men; WRI was greater among maintenance and custodial staff compared to direct caregivers, and less among clerical staff; WRI occurred less often in part-time than full-time staff; and WRI increased with increasing body mass index. Developing standards, guidelines, and policies for preplacement screening, preventive measures, training, and education may help to minimize WRI and associated costs.

The purpose of this study was to compare the epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries and workplace ergonomics among rural-based sonographers compared to urban-based sonographers. The authors also tested the use of a biomechanical software program to assess load on the spine and upper extremity joints. A mail-in survey was sent to all practicing sonographers in rural Manitoba, and on-site video-taped ergonomic and biomechanical evaluations were completed for four sites. Rural-based sonographers appear to have greater work stress related to waiting lists, use of outdated and non-adjustable equipment, and high client load. They also do not advocate for better working conditions because they are few in number and geographically distant from one another. Use of the biomechanical software proved minimally useful. Information related to industry standards and greater collaboration is needed to promote workplace health for sonographers.