Occupational and Environmental Health Community

My journey to occupational medicine began in the nuclear industry. It was here that I fell in love with the specialty, and it has fueled my career ever since. My role allowed me to practice autonomously and learn an entire area of medicine I never knew existed. Capitalizing on my hospital float team nursing skills, I was able to build a wealth of knowledge as I performed and interpreted ancillary testing to medically certify nuclear employees to perform highly regulated work. It also afforded me the ability to become immersed in the work culture and comprehensively care for employees, but longing to do more. In partnership with my employer, I took steps to become an occupational nurse practitioner (NP). When the industry shifted and the facility closed, I pivoted to the world of urgent care and onsite wellness. These experiences served as the best residency for developing a solid clinical gestalt for injury management and expanding my primary care knowledge. I have been in my current role as an occupational NP for five years now. I have the privilege of caring for and protecting Northern Wisconsin’s market workforce through the certification and medical surveillance examinations I perform and work injuries that walk in the door.

My commitment as your AANP Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) Community Co-chair is to provide a trusted resource for both its clinical content and a clear understanding of the unique aspects of practice that make NPs feel truly supported. I want to create a platform that is engaging and thought-provoking to generate exchanges surrounding industry challenges, connections to resources and to empower NPs to thrive. OEM NPs continue to define the scope of influence they hold to promote, prevent and enhance the care environments in which they choose to practice. The fiscal value of our work is abundantly clear in our ability to close the gaps that jeopardize worker safety, innovate access to care and increase the scope of services available for our workforce. These efforts are worth celebrating, for they are the legacy we leave behind. This forum must be a hub for honing our collective expertise forward to improve the health and well-being of the public and to protect the environment for the future. I want to challenge the members of this AANP OEM Community to share our practice victories to be a testament of how we show up for patients every day.

Occupational health is a blend of preventative care and workplace health care and is a perfect fit for any NP who seeks a career with variety and meaningful impact on the health and safety of workers. As a NP in occupational health since 1992 and practice owner since 1998, I have provided workplace health and safety programs from hire to retire. I find NPs today can work in many sectors, providing job specific health assessments or fitness for duty exams, treating and restoring health problems, conducting surveillance to prevent illness and injury, and helping employees find a work-life balance. Occupational and environmental health is a unique field that draws from pure science to clinical and research experiences to study the impact of the environment and workplace hazards on human health and disease while investigating cause and effect to deliver sound evidence-based practice. It opens the opportunity for advocacy and legislation, pulling together communities and workplaces for change. Our search for new knowledge by combining health with good business practice helps workplaces to maintain a safe worker environment and a prosperous bottom line to realize healthy workplaces for all.