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COPYRIGHT 2006 A Thomson Healthcare Company
Workers traveling? Think health and safety
Occ-health nurse should help with planning
International travel has become an almost routine component of business as more and more corporations extend their interests globally. For the occupational health nurse, this means not only keeping tabs on workers at the home office, but those whose work takes them to potentially hazardous parts of the world.
Most business travelers assume they might need shots before they travel, but the employee's current health as well as conditions where he or she is traveling are factors for the occ-health nurse to consider, says travel medicine consultant Gail A. Rosselot, MS, MPH, NP, COHN-S, president of Travel Well of Westchester, NY.
OSHA in 2002 issued a technical bulletin, "Safety and Health During International Travel," in which it recommended that employers identify employees who travel internationally and refer them to qualified health care professionals for obtaining travel information and vaccinations, but does not mandate that employers provide those services or vaccines.
Occupational health nurses, should identify all international travelers in their workplaces and establish a policy that sets out what pre-travel preparations those travelers should receive. The policy should be applied consistently to employees at all sites and employment category, Rosselot adds.
Prevention starts with an educated nurse
Although vaccines are the first thing that most people think of when contemplating travel to a country where disease is an issue, most travel health concerns are not vaccine preventable. Injury, illnesses, and recurrence of prior health problems are all risks when traveling, and almost all can be prevented with pre-travel preparation.
"Vaccines are important,...
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