Employee Health Nurse duties

[thekidisback]

Hello everyone,

There's an opening at the hospital I currently work at for an Employee Health Nurse. I am thinking about putting in a transfer for it. I'm thinking I have a good chance because my hospital is small. It's part time, 8am-4pm. I worked on a telemetry unit for 4 years and I feel like I need a break from bedside. I would be losing my full-time benefits, but I'm single and I'm thinking about just getting my own insurance anyway.

My question is: for all the employee health nurses out there who work at a hospital, what's your daily routine like? I don't have experience in this field, so what should I review?

[Rbeck911, BSN, RN]

I have only worked on site, and prefer it to hospital, but I deal closely with hospital Occ Health. They spend a lot of time case managing and scheduling. Depends on what your role will be though. Usually they have MA's doing most of the patient care and the RN sits in an office and does the paper side of things.

[kindrasue]

Hello! Did you end up getting the job ?? I have an interview tomorrow for an occupational health nurse at a hospital and am not quite sure what to expect.

[countrygirl1234]

Good Evening! Did you take the job? What are your thoughts?

[acocean3]

I have been an employee health nurse since March 2016 and love it. We are separate from Occupational Health/Medicine, however I do work with them when I need to refer an employee after a work related injury. Typical day/week consists of reviewing health clearances for new employees and volunteers. We participate in the weekly new employee orientation process by presenting a short PPT and then administer vaccines at an off-site location. Each week, we review more than 50 packets; if a positive QFT - we have a process we follow and could potentially then refer to the local DOH for follow up for latent TB. I process all BBP exposures for six campuses reviewing lab work for both employee and source patient; maintain an OSHA log and report out to the safety committees at each of our six campuses with any trending issues. I chair the Needlestick Prevention Team Committee and we meet quarterly. I also report out to the OR and Infection Control Committees. Our large, growing network keeps us busy with health clearances and in addition to assisting with FIT testing and infectious disease exposures, there are: Fall - influenza clinic; Spring - annual TB survey questionnaires. We travel to a separate site where orientation is held and then spend time at each of our six campuses throughout the month. Duties are greatly varied, no pressure, no emergencies!