Workplace Health Services Blog

Onsite health clinics have a lot of fans.

Companies love the reduced healthcare costs they bring. Managers love the increased productivity they generate. Employees love the convenient, high quality care they provide.

But, onsite health clinics have another group of fans: the nurses who work there.

Many occupational health nurses and nurse practitioners find providing a broad range of medical services in an onsite health clinic to be deeply rewarding. Many run their own clinic, and enjoy the challenges this autonomy brings.

These nurses are able to develop relationships with the employees they interact with, and take great satisfaction in helping these employees improve their health. In the clinic setting, occupational health nurses and nurse practitioners are able to uncover underlying issues, and provide treatment before these issues cause serious problems later on.

A good example is mental health. Employees are often hesitant to discuss these difficult issues with medical professionals they don’t know well.

Skilled nurses are able to identify the warning signs over time, and refer at-risk workers to our Employee Assistance Program, which provides behavior heath assistance in times of crises. Employees can schedule up to six individual or family counseling sessions with a trained psychologist, and receive the follow-up care necessary to overcome stressful situations.

Speaking of stressful situations, many emergency room nurses are transferring to onsite health clinics. The environment isn’t nearly as frantic, and the nurses find providing continuity of care to the same employee population very gratifying. They’re still called upon to use their ER skills from time to time, but spend most of their time administering primary care, occupational health, and the employee wellness programs.

The one group of that isn’t actively pursuing careers in onsite health clinics are recent nursing graduates. Occupational health is not emphasized in most nursing programs, so most of these new nurses apply at hospitals and urgent care centers.

With the variety of services that occupational health nurses and nurse practitioners provide onsite, it is best to have an experienced staff. Especially with the Workers Compensation case management and OSHA-related tasks these nurses are also responsible for.

Yes, most nurses are big fans of onsite health clinics and the employees they serve. And, the feeling is mutual.

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