This week (3-9-21) we meet with Stephanie Murdock to discuss Policy development in occupational medicine practice.
Here are some of the questions raised about Policy development:
- What are the areas in an Occ med clinic that require policies?
- Who is responsible for the development of policies?
- What are the governing regulations for policies in Occ Med?
- How do you monitor staff compliance to policies?
- Who is exempt from following the policies in the occ med clinic?
- How often do you update policies?
- Who is responsible for the policy updates?
March 9th Policy development Stephanie Murdock – slides
NAOHP Best Practice Program Standards
Audio:
Town Hall Overview:
As the healthcare sector evolves, the importance of policies for occupational health programs continues to gain momentum. Policies shape the necessary directives to guide decisions, achieve rational outcomes, and streamline operations. Consequently, it becomes imperative to frequently evaluate these guidelines to ensure relevance and efficacy within the constantly changing healthcare continuum.
This blog post, adapted from a recent live discussion at the NAOHP Town Hall, dives into the intricacies of policy development in Occupational Health Programs. It captures shared insights from OHP professionals like Donnelly Gardner, Stephanie Murdoch, and Michael Schmidt.
Understanding the Role of Policies
Policies act as stipulated systems of principles aimed at guiding decisions and achieving rational outcomes. Particularly in Occupational Health Programs, these guidelines serve as a compass, leading organizations towards best practices. Policies articulate the organization’s position, set behavior and performance expectations while providing a consistent operational framework.
When used correctly, policies eliminate the need for micromanagement and trial-and-error leadership. They provide a roadmap for employee duties and highlight the performance metrics expected from them.
Keeping Up with Policy Changes
Health organizations exist within a dynamic regulatory environment. Therefore, it’s crucial to stay on top of changing regulations and guidelines issued by governing bodies like OSHA, DOT, the Department of Public Health, ADA, AAOHN, NAOHP, and more. Changes across these agencies necessitate periodic policy modifications to ensure your Occupational Health Programs’ compliance.
Policy Development and Updates
The task of policy development can be ascribed to various job roles, depending on the policy scope. HR departments often drive overarching staffing and attendance policies. Departmental leaders, on the other hand, develop more specific policies. Policy updates should occur at least annually or when a significant change occurs in the operating environment or regulation.
Adapting software solutions, like an internal communication system, can help manage the updating of policies seamlessly. These systems ensure a systematic relay of policy changes, giving adequate attention to operational processes while fostering consistent organizational behavior.
The Cascading Effect of Communication
Along the policy development process, it’s pivotal to establish a communication path that fosters dialogue from the top to bottom of the hierarchy. This approach not only ensures that policy changes are well communicated but also offers an opportunity for feedback from the staff.
Frequent discussions about policies in staff meetings also emphasize the importance of these guidelines and reinforce adherence. Company-wide newsletters, staff meetings, and dedicated communication channels are effective ways to disseminate policy changes and initiate constructive conversations around them.
Policies: Providing Direction and Protection
Turning the lens towards viewing policies as protective and directive measures rather than operational burdens is transformational. Notably, the effective use of policies should drive clarity, not restrict innovation. They should reflect the broader good of the organization and not simply be reactionary protocols.
Remember, all employees, regardless of their roles, should abide by the set policies. Exemptions to policy adherence invariably lead to inconsistent outcomes, and ultimately, a degradation of the occupational health service delivery.
In conclusion, policies for Occupational Health Programs are an essential driver of exceptional performance and service delivery. By adopting a systematic, communicative, and flexible approach to policy development and updates, organizations can better navigate the dynamic healthcare environment.
Complete Resource Guide
The Resource Guide provides the infrastructure needed for the development and implementation of an occupational health program. Following the Standards for Best Practice of NAOHP Program Management, the Resource Guided provides all the policies and procedure template for the program implementation and development. The guide has twelve sections from the administrative organization through product line development, and policies and procedures, staffing plans with productivity templates, job descriptions, competency guidelines, standards of care, forms for every process, quality management development, financial development, ensuring optimal patient service, sales and marketing, resources. Programs can download the word files and using the templates then customize the files to their specific program needs, resulting in saving years of infrastructure development.
CLICK HERE or the image below to get the Complete Resource Guide

Thanks to Our Premier Sponsor for Town Hall – UL
UL’s SYSTOC Kiosk, automatic appointment reminders and no show notifications to the employer, help streamline the front desk workflow.
Download here: SYSTOC Kiosk for occupational medicine
