Certification in OHN Online

HI,

Same here, I am looking for a reputable online Occupational Health Training Certification. I've worked as an Occupational Nurse for the past 2 years but I would like to expand more of my knowledge in this line.

Please if anyone could help us, will be highly appreciated.

Thank you...

The only school I have found so far is http://health.usf.edu/nocms/nursing/Programs_of_Study/mshealth.html and you end up with a Masters in nursing a dual degree. Actually most of the reputable colleges have something like this but you must expend 2 years of education to get there, ugh. I ahve a Masters already. I'm just looking for a certification course online.

If anyone knows of an reputable online certification course in Occupational Health in Nursing please post.

University of north carolina chapel hill offers an excellent 1 yr mostly all online certificate program for ohn. You receive 11-12 credits towards your masters and the only oncampus visit is summer i course which is great, all others are online. I just completed in august 2008. You can finish your masters there if you like or just do the certificate. Look at the web site at unc.edu or ask me for further info.

Hi all - I looked into their course as an option for my staff and unfortunately they do not have any recognizable accreditation. This does not mean they have a bad course, or that it's a rip off - purely that it may not be value for money nor gain you accreditation you need to progress your career. See this for example: http://www.idahostatesman.com/387/story/465431.html and google it yourself. Caveat Emptor!

Accrediation is one of the first item list I look for. When I discovered this college has none I went else where. I think if you are smart enough to go to college you should be smart enough to look for Regional Accrediation status. Regional status is better than National Accrediation. Some colleges will not even accept National Accrediation.

Hello!

Is this for certification in OHN or a degree in OHN?

If it is for certification, here is what I did.

1. Work onsite as an OHN. Get all the hands on you can. There is a great learning curve when you actually do it!

2. Get AAOHN's "Core Curriculum for Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing", 3rd ed. and read it through!

3. Enroll in a good review course. I used Annette Haag, the former president of AAOHN. Her course is absolutely tops and her resources are priceless for your practice (CDs, manuals, and articles) www.dvdandhaag.com She has courses from the West Coast to the East.

4. Test your knowledge. Keep answering questions to focus on your strengths and weaknesses. DataChem Certistep offers individual and corporate licenses for certification prep questions. www.certistep.com

5. Find mentoring relationships with other sister/brother OHN's or other Occ Health Professionals. Join AAOHN and your local/district chapters and network, network, network! www.aaohn.org

Occupational Health Nursing is an excellent specialty of nursing. It transcends the conventional hospital setting and takes one right into the Community to be a voice of change and influence! Hope this is helpful.

Lilly

You said it Jersey Lilly. If you are RN then the only cert that I see as desired (if that is desired--many places don't care) is AAOHN's (and ABOH (the related crediting agency)) COHN. As Jersey Lilly states, you don't need any further formal training, you need only 2000 hours over some years OHN nursing experience to take it.

Hi Neats and all,

I just finished the online UNC Chapel Hill certificate in occupational health nurse course that bfredd 71 talked about. I loved it! All the credits you earn are tranferable to the masters courses if you desire. I have been an OHN since 1989 and still love it.

You will learn from leaders in the industry, namely Dr. Bonnie Rogers. Susan Randolph, Judy Ostendorf, and Kathleen Buckheit are also published leaders that teach in the program. It is an excellent program.

It is expensive, but I am not sure where you can go for any education that is not. It is possible to complete the program in less than a year (I did the program in 6 months). :yeah:I am told that you must sit for the COHN exam to put those initials by your name though.

Kim

I've been certified since the late '90s and the only certification that counts at all is the COHN (if ADN) or COHN-S (if BSN). All others are hooey. That is the certificate that employers are looking for. A bonus if you can get the COHN-S/CM certificate so that they know you can do Case Management as well (always a part of the job these days). UNC is simply the very best, as far as I am concerned. If you don't know it already, Dr. Bonnie Rodgers literally wrote THE book for Occupational Health Nursing. I attended her review course that she offers either once or twice a year in Florida, and a year before that I had attended another review course at Harvard School of Public Health. (My company paid.) Bonnie's was better BY FAR! If you can do it online, even better. But, to take the test and become certified, you must have at least (3,000?) hours of work as an OHN first. (Down from 4,000 when I took it.) It really helps to have your audiometry certification and spirometry as well. Lots and lots of toxicology and medical surveillance questions when I took it. Good luck! Don't waste money on certificates from bogus places that aren't worth anything.

katkonk,

Kudos to you on your years of certification. You most definitely had stricter guidelines to follow in the 90's. I wish I had done it many years ago myself but ... I'm enjoying the new adventure after so many years out of school. I am new to this blog/forum and find it very intersting. I hope I can shed a little light on one of your thoughts.

You said "...the only certification that counts at all is the COHN (if ADN) or COHN-S (if BSN). All others are hooey."

• It is true that you may not use the hard earned initials of COHN or COHN-S until you sit for the ABOHN exam and pass.
  
• And it is true that some employers require that you have or get the certification.
  

However, those nurses without the number of hours of experience required to sit for the exam can and do benefit from the certificate training. By taking a "for credit" (meaning college credit) certification course you may sit for the exam without the 3000 hours of experience (in the most recent five years) otherwise required. This is a newer rule for the ABOHN. I am certain employers will recognize and appreciate that effort.

Whether the Canyon College program is worthwhile -- well it has been around a while but I am not sure it is recognized by the ABOHN. That might be a good place to start investigating, if they will accept the program it is probably a good one.

Hope this was helpful

Kim