Being an Occupational Health Nurse Adviser (OHNA) can be both challenging and rewarding. I started my career as a general nurse working within Theatres, care of the elderly and predominantly in A&E however, I had always known that Occupational Health (OH) was the career path that I wanted to specialise within after speaking to OH nurses and doing my own research within this field of nursing. I eventually received the opportunity to start my OH career working for an NHS provider initially and then gradually gaining experience with both public and private sectors. I discovered that this specialised field of nursing is vast in the form of learning/understanding services that is provided and the knowledge gained understating the whole Occupational Health (OH) field. I remember a manager once told me that being an OH nurse ‘you are not a specialist you are a generalist’, as I gained a lot more experience within the field I began to understand what they had meant.
Being an OH nurse I had encountered many challenges some of this included understanding all aspects in the field of medicine, managing and being a neutral person between employer and employee, limited OH guidance/resources within the UK etc. Although challenges have been identified the positive aspect of OH is that it is improving year on year, particularly after the Covid19 pandemic. Government as well as businesses are becoming more known of the importance OH and what it can offer to essential help improve the health of the workforce. Aside from the challenges there have been rewarding aspects to this profession which is why I am so passionate about this field of nursing. A rewarding part is having the autonomy to assess employees, providing them with advise in regards to health and seeing the advantage this has made towards both employees and employers.
I can recall of an employee I assessed 2 years ago who was struggling significantly with their mental health and had significant absences, after assessing and reviewing this individual they provided feedback that they had recovered well and have sustained employment with no ongoing concerns noted. The rewards certainly out way the challenges, I continue to be passionate within this field of nursing and ultimately I hope to see the OH world continuing to develop further within the UK.
