Working Conditions and Role Conflicts of Occupational Health Nurses
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
CHUNG, YI-HUA
Abstract
Background and purpose: The amended Occupational Safety and Health Act” of 2013 strengthens the functions of occupational health nurses (OHN) but may also lead to substantially increased their workloads. Without sufficient supports from employers, fellow workers, labor inspectors or other occupational health professionals, OHN will be unlikely to fulfill their duty as stipulated in laws. The purpose of this study was to understand OHNs’ working conditions and experiences and to explore how they interacted with employers, fellow workers, labor inspectors and other occupational health management personnel. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 occupational health nurses, but 1 subject with a work tenure of less than one year was excluded from analyses. Result: Results were presented in two parts. In the first part, OHNs were found to be burdened with multiple work tasks, and non-professionally related work tasks occupied most of their work time. Findings of this study also revealed that the responsibility and restriction to gain access to occupational health data was not well defined, which may lead to ethical problems concerning privacy protection of workers and health management interests of enterprises. In the second part, it was found that work conditions of OHNs were greatly affected by how their employers and supervisors value the functions of occupational health services. Health knowledge of the fellow workersalso affected the functions of OHNs. Furthermore, how labor inspectors recognized the functions of OHNs played an important role. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggested that OHN encountered multiple obstacles in performing their duty, and these obstacles were closely related to the management of the enterprises. The fact that OHS-related regulations are not fully enforced and their deterring functions are limited is the underlying cause of the obstacles faced by occupational health nurses.
Subjects
Occupational health nurse
occupational health services
occupational health management
role conflicts
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-104-R02848026-1.pdf
Size
23.32 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):b63a0800164c81dc249fb00357beec6a