USF Nursing Student to Participate in OSHA Internship

University of South Florida College of Nursing graduate student, Doreen Yumang-Ross, RN, BSN, was selected to participate in the 2012 Graduate Nursing Internship Program in Washington, DC. The program, sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), lasts for eight weeks over the summer.

 “I look forward to representing USF and am thrilled to have been selected for this internship,” Yumang-Ross said. “When I made the decision to pursue a graduate degree, I never dreamed my education would include the prospect of an internship in Washington, D.C.  I am grateful to Dr. Candace Burns, my principal adviser, for her guidance and encouragement to pursue this opportunity, and for her support throughout my entire educational experience at USF.”

Yumang-Ross is completing an interdisciplinary dual degree master’s program (MS/MPH) in Occupational Health Nursing and Adult Health Nurse Practitioner offered by the College of Nursing and College of Public Health. The MS/MPH dual degree program provides training to prepare advanced occupational health nurses for practice at diverse work settings. Yumang-Ross plans to graduate in 2013.

Through this internship, Yumang-Ross will study a specific health or safety issue for the benefit of the agency and to fulfill her public health special project requirements.

“My professional and personal objectives for participating in this internship encompass both short and long-term goals,” Yumang-Ross said. “In the immediate future, my objectives for the internship period include obtaining a different view of OSHA’s organizational structure and function from the administrative level down. I would like to meet this objective by attending congressional or public hearings, observations of OSHA day-to-day activities, OSHA site visits, by meeting other occupational health professionals, and by independent reading relevant to the subject areas I will encounter.”

Yumang-Ross works at James A. Haley VA Hospital as a staff nurse in the Emergency Department where she cares for combat and non-combat veterans who have served in World War II, Korean and Vietnam Wars or, more recent conflicts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has worked at the VA hospital for more than 14 years in various departments  including long-term care, spinal cord injury, and medical intensive care unit (MICU).  

She is also a member of various organizations on and off campus including the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and American Association of Occupational Health Nurses and Sigma Theta Tau International, Upsilon Psi Chapter. Yumang-Ross is also one of the Occupational Health Nursing representatives on the Sunshine Education and Research Center Student Association at USF.  Her research interests include heat stress in the outdoor worker and the effects of night and rotating shift work on development of chronic diseases and metabolic disorders.

In the future, Yumang-Ross aspires to work for a government agency safeguarding workers as a clinician as well as work in an occupational health setting to help develop programs or policies.

 “I envision myself working in an occupational health setting identifying health and safety issues,” Yumang-Ross said. “In this capacity I would care for the employee who sustains a workplace injury or illness to restore health.  I foresee the opportunity to develop programs that promote health and wellness to encourage the employee’s productivity and contribution to the workforce.”

For related story on Yumang-Ross and her internship accomplishment visit USF College of Health’s web site at “Oh nurse earns a summer internship with OSHA.”