Occupational Health Nurse/CPR instructor

Specialties Occupational

Published

Specializes in Home health.

I am an Occupational Health Nurse who has been asked by my company to instruct & certify approximately 70 workers in CPR/First Aid/AED.

I am feeling a little overwhelmed, and am hesitant about this assignment. I provide first aid treatment to the workers on site, also case manage all work related & non work related injuries not only at the site where I work , but also 3 other plants in state,and am responsible for the return to work program.

I provide pre-employment and annual physicals/surveillance , drug testing etc. I am supposed to run a flu clinic this fall. I am the only one in my dept. and am feeling like I'm being spread too thin.

Are there any other Occ nurses out there who provide direct care, case manage and certify the workers in CPR/First Aid/AED?

Welcome to the world of Occupational Health. I do everything that you do plus instruct the first responders in CPR, First aid and AED. I am an American Heart Association sanctioned instructor. The first thing that I did was present a plan to "the powers that be" prioritizing which persons would be instructed first. This is because AHA recommended that you have a ratio of one instructor to 8 students, and no more than 3 students per dummy. I have 8 dummies, so I generally teach a class twice per month beginning at 8 am and continuing to 4 pm and those who pass receive an AHA adult and child CPR with First Aid and AED. I, too, am responsible for 3 different site locations, so I set up at a centralized location and the remote participants come to me for class. I also conduct a Mini class where the participants purchase the books and view the instructional films on the internet, then come to me for test and skills check offs (this is done primarily for renewals). Over the last year, I have issued 168 cards and have three locations full of first responders and have very happy administration for this is the largest number of certified first responders in the history of the plant.

adult and child

Specializes in Home health.

Were you an instructor prior to coming to work for your organization? They told me they wanted me to do this and left it up to me to find out how to become certified as an instructor. Is there someone that covers for you while you are providing the training? I am the only nurse and the company hasn't thought about what to do while I'm instructing. I suggested they hire a temp nurse for the days I instruct or have another employee learn and take over if I'm called away. You say you teach class from 8am to 4pm, my supervisor thinks I can teach 2 classes a day. The last time I spoke with her she told me the classes were only 3 to 4 hours long so I could teach 2 groups a day. I think that is insane.

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Were you an instructor prior to coming to work for your organization? They told me they wanted me to do this and left it up to me to find out how to become certified.

Here is a link to the AHA where you can find ACLS/PALS/BLS instructor courses in and around your own area. Also, check with local hospitals for courses:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3012360

I was an instructor "back in the day", but when I came to work at my plant, I had to get recertified as an instructor. I went on line at AHA.com and found a class locally and have been instructing ever since. I do not have anyone cover me when I teach. If there is an accident on class day, the whole class goes with me to render first aid. Talk about a real class experience. If you are teaching an AHA First Aid, CPR and AED course it will take you at least 6 hours to get through the course. I have split the course into a CPR unit and A first aid unit of about 3 hours each unit. The larger the class, the longer it takes me to teach it. By the way, no one covers me when I am out of the office. All of the work is waiting for me when I get back.

Specializes in Home health.
I was an instructor "back in the day", but when I came to work at my plant, I had to get recertified as an instructor. I went on line at AHA.com and found a class locally and have been instructing ever since. I do not have anyone cover me when I teach. If there is an accident on class day, the whole class goes with me to render first aid. Talk about a real class experience. If you are teaching an AHA First Aid, CPR and AED course it will take you at least 6 hours to get through the course. I have split the course into a CPR unit and A first aid unit of about 3 hours each unit. The larger the class, the longer it takes me to teach it. By the way, no one covers me when I am out of the office. All of the work is waiting for me when I get back.

Thanks for the reply, I am pretty brand spanking new at this position and have never instructed a cpr/first aid/aed class in my life. I've only been doing this a few months. You have had preparation for what you're doing, I've had none and they think I should have already started.

If you are teaching the AHA course using the AHA DVD, the DVD does most of the teaching for you. You do the dummy demonstration check offs and facilitation of questions. If your training center was AHA. you can call them and tell them you are teaching a class for the first time and many times they will send another instructor as an observer to give you some feedback or will allow you the opportunity to teach a class. Don't worry about screwing up the class. Like I explain to my students: if you have to use CPR/AED, you patient is clinically dead and whatever you do to them is better than dead. You can't get any worse than dead. So go for it.

Specializes in Home health.

I am happy to report that my company has finally come to their senses and have dropped their request. Of course, it took me standing up for myself. I am very pleased with their decision.

Specializes in Occ health, Med/surg, ER.

Well, I do think they need to hire another nurse so the workers can be taught CPR and First aid.

Specializes in Home health.
Well, I do think they need to hire another nurse so the workers can be taught CPR and First aid.

The workers will continue to be CPR/First Aid/AED trained by an outside contracted instructor, which is the way it has always been done in the past.

i think that workload maybe too much for you for now and it may create job stress and personal conflict within you as regards the unambiguity of the roles you have to play. the coy may need to employ somebody temporarily while you plan and schedule your work.

Specializes in Home health.

I left that position several months ago. It was a salary position and the wages were really low. The company wanted me to work the same hours as the plant employees for at least 6 weeks a year which would have added an additional 20 hours a week to my schedule. I would not have gotten paid for those hours because I was a salaried employee.

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