Occupational health nurse's role in health surveillance and workers' education: National and international state

Background: Occupational Health Nurses have gradually changed their role. Objectives: To provide a national and international overview concerning the Occupational Health Nurse's role and to evaluate which are the regulatory/professional elements currently in force in Italy that may permit to better structure and develop Occupational Health Nurse's technical/scientific knowledges. Methods: Literature and regulatory texts review in Italy and abroad; on sight research in some public and private Occupational Health services. Results: Occupational Health Nurses' role abroad is well established and it's primarily aimed to preventive health interventions and health promotions. In Italy, on the contrary, the role of nurses in Occupational Health is almost always accessory in the implementation of health surveillance and workers' health education. This fact seems to be the result of the absence of a specific training course for those professionals, that could better define their legal profile. Conclusions: We verified the need that the training curricula of the Nursing Degree and of the Post-graduate Degree in Nursing and Midwifery Sciences give more space for teaching specific Occupational Health skills. It seems useful to propose the activation of specific post-graduate training courses for nurses who wish to focus specifically their professional activity in our disciplinary field.