Examining Occupational Health Nurse Competencies when Collaborating with Public Health Services.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the competencies of occupational health nurses who collaborate with public health services.

METHODS: Ten occupational health nurses who work for companies that collaborate with public health services were the subjects. They were the finalists selected from among those occupational health nurses who participated in a preparatory survey and phone interviews that inquired about their collaborative activity experiences with public health services; they were selected because of their greater experience with these collaborations. Semi-structured interviews using an interview guide were conducted, and a Qualitative Content Analysis approach developed by Mayring was used for data analysis. First, collected data were coded based on four aspects of collaborative activity: "Routine engagement"; "Execution of collaboration"; "Engagement for better understanding in the organization"; and "Perceptions, attitudes, and thoughts as foundations of collaboration." Then, categories and subcategories of responses were generated by similarity sorting.

RESULTS: Our findings clarified the following specific competencies required of occupational health nurses when collaborating with public health services: "Collection of public health information," "Construction of good relationships with public health personnel," "Extraction of problems within the family among employees," "Connection of employees and their family members with public health personnel," "Utilization of public health resources," and "Demonstration of the importance of collaboration with public health services." Furthermore, the following attitudes and thoughts were clarified: "Retention of supportive attitude and viewpoint toward the entire life of employees and their family factors," "Retention of attitude of promoting collaboration with public health services by occupational health nurses," and "Being aware of the importance of occupational health nurses."

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that occupational health nurses need to engage in collaborative activities with more holistic attitudes and thoughts to consider the whole lives of employees and their families. Thus, it is important to provide occupational health nurses with more opportunities to acquire these competencies. Subjects in this study were making efforts to collaborate with public health personnel to enrich their support services by exhibiting "Construction of good relationships with public health personnel" and "Utilization of public health resources," even in understaffed environments with only one occupational health nurse.