Workshop: A practical approach to manage OH for Nursing Professionals

Venue: Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi
24-25 September 2014

1. Background

Occupational health is a discipline of medicine that virtually cuts across every speciality. Certain occupational medicine activities are fundamental to every consultation and need not be time consuming but can contribute to timely identification of potential problems and referral for proper management, prevention of further deterioration, compensation and/or rehabilitation of an employee / patient.

Currently, there is a huge gap in the occupational health services in India and in addition not all employers have on site occupational health services. When an employee develops ill health that is occupational in causation, he/she may consult a health care worker at a primary health system. Nurses are not taught the basics of occupational health in their training and are thus not skilled in the identification of an occupational disease. Nurses who complete this course will be better equipped to identify and manage occupational ill health. Through the early detection of disease the morbidity associated with occupational disease can also be reduced thereby decreasing the disease burden in our country.

2. Purpose of the training

Purpose of the training is to equip PHC nurses with the knowledge and skill necessary to take an appropriate occupational history and refer suspected occupational disease cases to the next level of referral. Their role is to have a high index of suspicion for work-related problems and knowledge of referral systems that exist within health care delivery system.

3. Objectives of the training

• Provide the learner with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to identify occupational disease in the community in an ethical and professional manner.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the dynamics involved in occupational health service delivery.

• Provide the learner with a basic understanding of the legal framework of occupational health.
• Provide the learner with knowledge, skills and attitudes to take a comprehensive occupational history and refer suspected occupational disease cases to the next level of referral,

4. Structure of course

The course will be of two days duration. A combination of theoretical and practical teaching methods will be used. A virtual site visit will be included in the teaching methods.