Act

ivi
tyf
orMar
ch27,
2022

I
ssuesi
nNur
singPr
ofessi
oni
nthi
sti
meofPandemi
c

Li
nk:
htt
ps:
//www.
ncbi
.nl
m.ni
h.gov
/pmc/
art
icl
es/
PMC2797477/
#!po=1.
66667

Ti
tl
e:Occupat
ional
Heal
thandSaf
etyI
ssuesAmongNur
sesi
nthePhi
l
ippi
nes

Author:A.B.deCast
ro,
PhD,
MSN/
MPH,
RN,
SuzanneL.Cabr
era,
MN,
RN,
[.
..
],
andEul
ari
toA.
Tagalog,RN,COHN

Nur
singisaveryhazar
dousoccupati
onnotonlyi
ntheUnit
edStat
esofAmeri
cabutevery
where
i
ntheglobe,t
hatiswhyOccupat
ionalHeal
thandSafet
yinthewor
kpl
aceespeci
all
yinNursi
ng
workpl
aceisver
yimportant
.

Thearticl
edescribedt hewor krelatedproblemsf aci
ngbyPhi l
ippi
neNursesint heirworkpl
ace.
I
tsdescr i
beandi ndi
cat ethatnursesencount aringintheothercount
ryissi
milart owhatis
happeninginthePhi l
ippines.Andsadt r
uthabouti tasnursesdoesn'
tfeelt
heimpor tanceof
report
ingitt
ot hemanagement , becauseev enthemanagementdoesn' tpri
ori
tizet he
i
mpor tanceoftheirexistenceandt heirsafety
.Heal t
hissuesareimport
antnotonl yfornurses
themselves,butalsobecauset heymaycont r
ibutetoworkf or
ceshort
agesbypr ompt i
ngnurses
toleavetheprofession.

Idoagr eeinthest atementt hatOccupat ionalhealthnur sesi

nt hePhil
ippi
nesshoul densure
thatnursesunder standt herelat
ionshi pbetweeni njur
yandi l
lnessandwor kplacefactor
sby
i
mpl ement i
ngeducat i
onal andtrai
ningst rat
egiesf ocusingonwor kpl
acehealthandsaf ety
.
Giventhehazar ds,concer ns,andwor ki
ngcondi t
ionst hatnursesinthePhili
ppinesreport
,
advocacyi sneededatt henationalandor ganizati
onal level
sfortheenf or
cementof
occupationalhealthandsaf et
ypolicies.

Theirawarenessabouttheexist
ingi
ssues,theimportanceofknowinhandhavi
ngthe
understandi
ngaboutthehazardsandconcer nthatmayaf f
ectt
heirheal
thandwor
kisoneof
themosti mport
antwayt oaddressthei
ssues.Theinstit
uti
onsmustpr i
ori
ti
zet
hehealt
hyand
safetyofthei
rworkforceastheyarepartoftheinst
it
uiti
onsmanpower .

Addit
ional
l
y ,
occupat
ionalheal
thnursescani
denti
fypr
ior
it
yareasf
orr
esear
chandcanpar
tner
wit
hresearcher
stoinvest
igatethesei
ssuesmorethor
oughly
.

Thelimitat
ionsofthestudyist
hatonlypart
ici
pant
sofPNAnat ionalconvent
ionarethe
parti
cipant
sandsomeoft hem doesn'
tcont
inueansweri
ngthesurveyandbecomebi ast
ot he
study.Theshortageperi
odofhandlingandmakingthi
sreseachistheweaknessoft hestudy.
Second, t
hetoolsusedandmet hodsaresomehownotcompat ibl
etoFili
pinonurseswhat
actuall
yexperi
encing.
Nurseshaveav eryimpor t
antroleinrecogni
zi
ngandi denti
f y
ingthepotenti
alhazardinthe
workpl
aceastheyar epar tofthebiggestpopulati
onandmanpowerofani nsti
tut
ions.
I
ncreasi
ngtheirtr
ainings,ori
entati
onandsemi narsinregardstoitwil
lbeabl etosolvethe
i
ssuesregardi
ngt othisconcerns.Andmaki ngt hi
spartincurri
culum i
tsel
fofnursingisone
wayaswel l
inthisappr oachthatmustbeputi ntoconsiderati
on.

Nursesmustber esponsi
bleandaccount ablealsototheirheal t
handsaf et
y,maintai
ninga
healt
handsaf eworkenvironmentf orthem andf ortheircli
entistheir
rutmostresponsibi
li
ty.
Creati
onofpolici
esandgui del
inesofst andar dwillhelpaswel lasitwil
lser
vesasr ef
erences
notonlybynursesbutbyinst i
tuti
ons.Pol ici
esthataddr esst heprevent
ionofoccupati
onal i
njur
y
andill
nesscanalsobeadopt edwi thi
nt heheal thcarewor kplace.Occupati
onalhealt
hnur ses
canbepar t
icul
arl
yeffect
iveatt hi
slevel bydirectl
ymoni t
oringwor kpl
aceexposuresand
advocati
ngt omanagementf oractionst hatprotectwor kers.

I
nthist
imeofpandemic,
themanagementmustpri
ori
ti
zethesafet
yoftheirheal
thwor
kfor
ce.
Thei
rsaf
etyi
simport
anttomakethei
nsti
tut
ionsworkandatt
ainsi
tsgoals.