Occupational Health Nurse Competencies

Occupational Health Nurse Competencies - Contemplating the changing face of occupational health nursing

Sally Kane (left), ANZSOM VIC/TAS branch chair; Jo McNeilly (right), Facilitating Possibilities

A recent workshop at the ASM in Fremantle cast a spotlight on the changing face of occupational health nursing and led to some spirited discussions about the factors influencing this role, as well as the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Facilitated by Jo McNeilly from Facilitating Possibilities, the session involved both nurses and medical practitioners and sought to inform the review of the competency standards for OHNs. These standards were developed in the 1990s by the Australian College of Occupational Health Nurses, which subsequently merged with ANZSOM.

The outputs of the session will form the basis of further action by ANZSOM and collaboration with other organisations, including educational institutions, professional organisations and the registering body AHPRA.

Key observations to come out of the workshop are summarised below:

Occupational health nurses bring clear strengths and benefits to the workplace, including their in-depth health/medical knowledge. They are flexible and are adapting to the shift away from the traditional workplace, however their benefits may not be well understood in relation to other professionals working in this space and their strengths have not been well promoted.
The named role of “Occupational Health Nurse” is declining in workplaces, and OHNs are fulfilling broader roles including managerial roles in health and safety. The challenge is to achieve recognition that nurses trained in occupational health bring value to these roles, and to ensure ongoing education equips them for these roles.
The competencies required for OHNs is shifting e.g. away from first aid and health monitoring and towards managing risk and advising on issues such as mental health. The challenge is to ensure the training of OHNs supports this shift.
A barrier to the promotion of OHN roles is the lack of recognition as a specialty group under AHPRA. In turn this is limited by lack of certification and structured training.

The workshop concluded that there were clear opportunities for ANZSOM to:

Support review of the competencies to reflect the current role of OHNs
Advocate for recognition as a speciality nursing role
Collaborate with other stakeholders such as ASHPA, OHS Body of Knowledge, local and international professional nursing organisations, government and educational institutions to achieve appropriate education and certification of OHNs and promote the role to industry
Promote nursing membership to ANZSOM to build the capacity for education and mentoring

A working group will progress these activities over the coming months. If you are interested in contributing, please contact Sally Kane (sally.kane@agilent.com)

Relevant links and further reading:

Australian standards: Australian College of Occupational Health Nurses (ACOHN) – Competency standards for occupational health nurses (pdf)

International standards: