Better-defined titles for how occupational health nurses can describe themselves have been developed by the Faculty of Occupational Health Nursing and the National School of Occupational Health.
While ‘registered nurse’ is a protected title, the term ‘occupational health nurse’ is not.
Most OH nursing professionals tend to use ‘OH adviser’ or ‘OH nurse’, but neither of these spells out that person’s education, knowledge, skill or experience, the faculty (FOHN) and school (NSOH) have highlighted.
Title terminology can also depend on what an employer is already familiar or comfortable with.
FOHN and NSOH have joined forces to develop titles that better reflect and clarify the various education pathways and qualifications of practitioners. The three titles are:
- Specialist community public health nurse occupational health (SCPHN OH)
- Occupational health specialist/occupational health nurse
- Occupational health practitioner/occupational health adviser.
A SCPHN OH nurse will be a nurse who has undertaken a specific programme of education approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which allows entry to the third part of the NMC register.
Occupational health nursing
FOHN accreditation to enable OH nurses to use new post-nominals
An OH specialist or OH nurse should be a nurse who has undertaken a postgraduate OH specialist practitioner qualification, “aligned to relevant occupational health education standards or guidance”, such as, again, the NMC, FOHN and NSOH have said.
They should be able to demonstrate a minimum of two years’ experience in their field of practice, be able to deliver a range of OH activities, make clinical judgements, and provide technical advice and support, as defined by their knowledge, skills and experience.
An OH practitioner or adviser should be a nurse “who is new to this field of practice or who is delivering defined occupational health activities to agreed standards”, FOHN and NSOH said.
“They should have activity-specific training in place or have completed the Diploma in Occupational Health Practice foundation course. It is also recommended that their work is supervised until they gain the necessary proficiencies,” they add.
The FOHN/NSOH guidance has also reiterated that all UK-registered nurses are already on the NMC register and bound by the NMC code: “All occupational health nursing professionals should only undertake tasks for which they have the necessary competence evidenced for example by training, supervision, experience, and assessment of competence.”
The guidance also clarifies in more detail the various education pathways and qualifications required for occupational nurses.
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