Would you ever consider being a correctional nurse/np?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Would you ever consider being a correctional nurse?

    • 0
      Yes, it's my first choice
    • 11
      I'd consider it
    • 1
      Only if it was the last available option (or look to move to another area soon after)
    • 3
      Never

15 members have participated

So I've got to do a project on Correctional health care, but I thought it would be interesting to see how many people going into health care would consider being a prison doctor, nurse, etc. or to see if it was the last field you'd resort to. Also leave comments or thoughts below on correctional nursing!

(thanks to anyone who answers)

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I don't know if it's just me or what, but I find your options a bit offensive to those nurses who work in corrections. As in you've relegated correctional nsg to the bottom of the pile for career options or as a NEVER option.

I remember a past thread that similarly designated LTC as the worst choice ever (or something along that line). It offended a lot of nurses, too.

Nursing is multifaceted and I find so many denigrate some of the atypical specialties as less than prime nursing. It's bad enough when the general public and even other professions do so. But when it's done within our own ... SAD.

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I think she was si.ply asking a question as to where people stand, i.e., would you consider it OR would you say it's at the bottom of your list. I didn't get the impression you did. At all.

I start school in the fall and it's not currently at the top of my list. Having said that, I'm sure my list will change dramatically over the next few years.

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I definitely did not mean that and looking back on it it would've been better had I mixed it up (I just wanted in a logical sense order but I could've flipped it)

That being said one of or professor's last week told us some of us with certain views should never attempt to apply in a Planned Parenthood clinic or a jail because of our views. That being said my projects basically on the malpractice of health care providers towards inmates, so I wasn't trying to imply it was lower.The point was to show really if people even considered it or if the stigma holds true that lots of people pre nursing, nurses, other health care professionals don't view it as the optimal area of work. I mean if you actually study how bad the inmates in this country are treated there is something definitely wrong with health care and this was one facet I was trying to get a point of view on.

Also not claiming to know much, but I mean just hearing some of my professors talk and my fellow peers they obviously do degrade it and I was trying to figure out if it was one of the reasons why our prison health care is so bad in some prisons. I think I should've clarified what I'm trying to research in the question.

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Students always have ideas about where they want to work or what they think they will like. These can change as TheNurseStudentMom states. What's more important is that your qualities and goals are in line with your chosen field. Personally, I love med-surg. I like walkie-talkies. I love the educating patients. Dementia tests my patience levels. I like to see them progress to discharge. Not so keen on death, even with dignity. I believe that correctional nursing is a much-needed specialty but one that requires the ability to be assertive and a good understanding of therapeutic communication. Is it for me? No. But there are those who will find their niche there. No specialty is above or beneath another.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I'd definitely consider being a correctional nurse...

Working at the bedside is difficult these days due to patient satisfaction scores and Press Ganey. Keeping the patients and families satisfied involves many concierge services that take up time such as fetching snacks and chairs, preparing coffee to families' specifications, and basically being sugary sweet to pathetic people.

In a jail intake center or prison infirmary, I'd be able to provide the care to inmates without having to deal with the patient satisfaction aspect of the job. This would make my job easier if I were to ever return to doing direct patient care.

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Never. Not for moral reasons or anything but because I'm a touchy nurse who grew up on blue haired ladies back in 1980's home health where I could practice nurturing touch, gives lots of attention and dote on lonely seniors without it being inappropriate.

My nurse sister tried to talk me into applying for corrections when I was in my 20's. Had I put in 10 years way back when, when 10 years vested you for 80% of your income, I'd be in good retirement shape right now but it just wasn't the patient environment I wanted to work in. I've been colored by a long ago nursing school experience where I dared touch a young mental health patient on the shoulder after he had injured himself, I was reamed by the preceptor for inappropriate behavior. I don't go around touching everyone but I just can't work like that.

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Specializes in Forensic Psychiatry.

I work forensic psych in a mental health facility and I pick up extra hours at the state correctional facility. I like it, personally and I can't see myself doing anything else. I like the autonomy I have and I like the challenge of working with a challenging population. I also enjoy the unpredictability that comes with the territory. It's a different type of nursing for sure, but I knew fairly early on that med-surg and the, "typical," nursing job was not right for me. I am more than happy with my decision.

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Not my cuppa, but I do personally know a corrections nurse and she loves her job. Won't go back to hospital nursing for all the money in the world. To each their own.

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I know myself well enough to recognize that I would be at greater risk of compassion fatigue and/or burn out in a corrections environment and would not chose to work in it.

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Specializes in Education.

After *cough* years in emergency nursing and medicine...I'm not only considering it, but I'm applying for a position at the local jail. And prison.

Why? Because the attitudes that I started out with in regards to interacting with patients have changed. No longer can we truly give tough love to the people who need it; we have to wrap everybody in silk and bubble wrap to provide not patient - centered care, but customer service to everybody, up to and including our co-workers. There are some days that I'm not a nurse, I'm a waitress, housekeeper, and servant.

Is it dangerous? No more than working in an inner-city ER. Less, actually. The patients, for the most part, know that they need to be at the very least polite to the medical/nursing staff. They're in restraints of some form, and there are guards present. There also isn't much call for the nurses to leave the infirmary and go out into the cell blocks.

The one thing that has to be remembered is that for all the men and women, and children who end up incarcerated, they are there for a reason. They were given fair trials, found guilty, and given a punishment to fit the crime according to the laws of the nation that you live in and either a jury of their peers or a judge who is trained in trial law and sentencing. It's not my place, nor in my capabilities, to feel bad or sorry for them.

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Specializes in ER.

I am willing to do it as a NP. Great benefits. As a nurse, a lot of them are contracted out.

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