Program Overview

MS Program

UCSF MS program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education every 10 years (the last one was in 2011). Full-time students in the OEH-NP track can complete MS requirements in two years. Upon graduation, OEH-NP students are eligible to apply for State Board of Registered Nursing NP role certification, and for national certification through the American Nurses’ Credentialing Commission), or the Program Director/Principal Investigator (Balmes, John, R) Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing Program American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. After satisfying additional work time requirements, they are eligible to apply for OHN specialty certification (COHN-S) through the American Board of Occupational Health Nurses.

Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing Program Curriculum

Table B. OEHN Curriculum (Total 82.5 quarter units, UCSF is on the quarter system)

OEHN Core Coursework (24 units)
NH273A	Occupational Health & Diverse Worker Populations (meets socio-cultural course requirment) - 2 units
N273B	Issues in Occupational Health - 1 unit
N271.06	Management of Clinical Occupational Health Problems - 2 units
M180	Industrial Toxicology (School of Medicine course) - 2 units
PH269C	Ergonomics - 6 quarter units (UC Berkeley semester course)
N274A	Health and Safety Hazards of the Workplace - 3 units
N414.02 A/B	OEHN Role and Program Planning (meets evidence-based project planning requirment) - 3 units
N274C	Occupational Safety - 2 units
N212C	Principles and Methods of Epidemiology - 3 units

Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP Core Coursework (47.5 units)
Didactic courses (28.5 units):
N257	Assessment and Management of Common Psychiatric Symptoms - 2 units
N270	Advanced Health Assessment - 2 units
N208	Advanced Pathophysiology - 2 units
N248	Paliative Care - 1 unit
N245.28	AGPCNP Seminar: Clinical Prevention and Population Health - 1 unit
N232.01	Essentials of Pharmacology Across the Lifespan - 1 unit
N232.02	Advanced of Pharmacology Across the Lifespan - 4 units
N246	Symptom Assessment and Management - 3 units
N246.28	AGPCNP Seminar: Episodic Care - 1 unit
N247	Complex Health Problems & Management - 3 units
N247.28A	Seminar in Adult-Gero Complex Health Problems - 1 unit
N247.28B	Seminar in Adult-Gero Complex Health Problems - 2 units
Nu218	Nutrition - 2 units
N259.04	Contraception andf Sexual/Reproductive Health - 1-2 units
N261	Inter-professional Counseling for Behavior Change Workshop - 0.5 unit
N294D	Essentials of Human Genomics for Nurses - 1 unit
Clinical practical and residencies (19 units):
SLN413.28	AGPCNP Advanced Health Assessment Skills Lab - 1 unit
N414.28	AGPCNP Advanced Health Assessment Practicum - 1 unit
N414.28	AGPCNP Well Health Clinical Practicum - 2 units
N414.28	AGPCNP Episodic Care Residency - 1.5 units
N415.28B	AGPCNP Primary Care Reseidency - 13.5 units

SON MS Core Coursework (11 units)
N200	Prologue - 1 unit
N262A	Advanced Scholarship in Research, Part I - 2 units
N262B	Advanced Scholarship in Research, Part II - 2 units
N245A	Clinical Prevention and Population Health, Part I -2 units
N245B	Clinical Prevention and Population Health, Part II - 1 unit
N211.01	Leadership - 2 units
N200.01	Epilogue - 1 unit
Comprehensive Examination

Clinical Rotations & Field Experiences

By the end of the program, in addition to the 435–480 hours spent in clinical training which includes 45 hours of Occupational Medicine, all MS students spend a minimum of 76 hours during their final quarter in an OEHN role and program planning residency (N414.02A/B), working with preceptors in a variety of settings. This placement provides experience in the operations of an onsite OEH service, with a focus on the OEHN role and case management. It complements the didactic coursework and includes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of an OEH program targeted to at-risk employees.

PhD Program

The goal of the PhD program is to prepare nurse scientists and leaders to contribute to knowledge development in the OEHN field, and to assume leadership positions in the profession. The program plan for PhD students is interdisciplinary in approach: (1) the program has cognate course requirements and students are strongly encouraged to take courses from NorCal-ERC programs; (2) the Qualifying Examination requires one faculty member from another department, preferably other NorCal ERC faculty; and (3) trainees may also participate in multidisciplinary NorCal-ERC and OEHN faculty research teams. Students are expected to produce a dissertation that is relevant to OEHN practice, and the research experience requirements of the program should also be relevant to OEHN. Students are advised to address the priority areas set by NIOSH in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) and the Research Priorities defined by the AAOHN for their dissertation research.

PhD Curriculum Plan

The PhD program entails approximately four years of academic work. The curriculum includes core courses in nursing science (N229, N269), biostatistics (Biostat200, Biostat208), and quantitative/qualitative research design and qualitative / quantitative analysis (N209A/B, N212A/B, N285A/B or N289A/B), nursing theory (N290 or N253, N227, N221.01), two cognate courses (didactic non-nursing content related to research), and six units of advanced nursing seminars. For cognate coursework, PhD students are encouraged to take other electives (particularly higher level cognate courses such as advanced occupational epidemiology or biostatistics) offered by COEH affiliated programs or consortium universities (UCSF, UCB, Stanford, etc.) to enrich their research knowledge base and analytical skills. NIOSH trainees are required to take OEHN core courses (Table B) if they have not had relevant coursework or prior OEH experience. The OEHN PhD seminar (N240.11) qualifies as an advanced nursing seminar. The seminar is required for NIOSH trainees and is being offered jointly with Dr. Bates’ TRT interdisciplinary research seminar among trainees and faculty from UCB and UCSF.

COEH Trainees are expected to participate fully in their home program and are also invited to engage in COEH activities.

Trainees accepted to their respective academic program are encouraged to complete the following after discussing the requirements with the Program Director:

Take required coursework specific to Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing Specialization (discuss with your Program Director)
Commit to Interdisciplinary Education opportunities by:
- Attending Annual Symposia
- Taking or auditing Interdisciplinary Courses, as appropriate
- Attending TRT Seminars, as appropriate
- Engage in Field Visit opportunities
Engage in one or more scholarly research activities and consider presenting and/or publishing your work
Contribute at least 2 hours of service/outreach related activity (presentations, projects, outreach in the community)
Read COEH communications(emails) and respond when appropriate
In addition, COEH Trainees need to acknowledge our support from NIOSH in all current and future publications, journal articles, conference proceedings that are a result of work performed during your time as a Graduate Student. The acknowledgment should use the following language:

“This publication (journal article, etc.) was supported by the Training Grant, T42OH008429, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

Program Overview