LPN as OHN

[imim]

I've been an LPN for almost 2 years with about year and a half experience in LTC. I'm interested in alternative jobs such as OHN. Are LPNs qualified to work in this area? I really don't want to go back to school to convert to RN because of age, expense and other life goals. Thaanks

[LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN]

I entered Occ Health for the first time two years ago and I am an LPN. As our lead RN had mental/physical issues, I ended up taking all her responsibilities that were still in my scope of practice and did wonderfully with them. I have several occupational health related certifications (obviously not the COHN cert) and have done a wide variety of things including: travel medicine (I was backed and checked by an MD), resp fit testing, ran the hearing conservation program for a huge plant, ran the DOD/NON-DOD/DOT drug programs, Hep B program (again backed and checked by an MD), drug testing and breath alcohol technician. I also tracked employees with perm/temp restrictions, assisted employees with filling out worker's comp papers, triaged people under the supervision of the RN, minor trauma, helped employees fill out injury reports, and did the pre physical (blood work, urine, hearing, vision, etc) work for employees who worked with dangerous chemicals. I also worked directly with EHS, the company, and it's two unions on a regular basis. I did A LOT for it being my first occ health job. But this was because as i said the lead RN was often incapacitated and my own boss suffered from a heart issue so I had to take on a lot of roles since both were in and out of the office. I was always under the direction of an MD mostly because the RN's were always available. I am IV certified but since we took people in emergencies (We also operate as an urgent care for just the plant employees) I left the IV's up to the NP. We rarely had them order but when it was, it was usually in a emergent situation, and I am not highly proficient in IV's as i am in blood draws.