title: [Self-assessment of tasks and roles of occupational medicine service (OMS) nurses in the Polish system of workers' health protection].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This paper presents the results of survey performed to find out how occupational medicine service (OMS) nurses assess their tasks and roles in the Polish system of workers' health protection.
  
  
  METHODS
  The survey was carried out in a random group of 200 OMS nurses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The survey showed that OMS nurses form-an experienced professional group. According to self-assessment they have an opportunity to use their competence in its full scope. Almost half of respondents agreed that in Poland the skills of OMS nurses are properly used. There are two reasons why certain tasks are not performed by OMS nurses, first, certain tasks are assigned to other persons in the unit; second, employers are sometimes not interested in those tasks or find them not necessary. The majority of nurses assess their knowledge and preparation to perform tasks relatively well, however they want to broaden their knowledge and improve their skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OMS nurses play an important role in the Polish system of workers' health protection. They perform many tasks, which fall within the scope of OMS activities being currently implemented. Their competences are usually properly used. There is a need to convince employers that the scope of services provided by OMS units should be extended and adequately financed. This should result in the better use of OMS nurses' competences. Nurses are well educated and skilled to perform their jobs. Nevertheless, they feel the need to broaden their knowledge. Although the programs of specialization and qualification courses are rather comprehensive, nurses declare that some areas should be enriched with additional information.
authors.affiliation: Zakład Polityki Zdrowotnej, Pracownia Organizacji i Zarzqdzania w Opiece Zdrowotnej, Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. J. Nofera, Łódź. psak@imp.lodz.pl
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sakowski
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011044:Poland; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis