Considering correctional nursing, any input appreciated

karenflrz · Jun 7, 2016

Anybody? Lol

DawnJ · Jun 7, 2016

You'd get more response in the Corrections forum.

I have worked for CCS and in corrections. I went in as a new RN and loved it. A lot of people do it for a year of experience and then move on to a hospital or other type of nursing. I LOVE corrections, you often get to do things that are not commonly done by nurses because many corrections areas are essentially run by nurses with MD/providers on call. I've seen a lot of things that I don't imagine I'd see in other places, except maybe the ER.

Correct Care is a company that has expanded rapidly in the past couple years, buying up other companies and signing contract after contract. There have been growing pains--scalabilty issues with the EMR and training are huge ones. There hasn't been much support from corporate, at least until my facility reached critical mass, unable to keep nursing management or nurses period. They do have someone who's job it is to troll the internet and "deal with" any negative press, though. I don't work for the company anymore, so threaten away CCS!

The computer system they use is what I'd expect a high school senior's final project would look like. It is not intuitive, is unreliable and I think was designed with the theory of "why do it with one click when you can make them do it with five?" I know people always complain about the EMR, but truly....I've worked with several now and NONE is as bad as ERMA.

But overall, unless you are in TN, the tone of the site is driven by local management, not corporate. Which in this case, is a good thing, I think. Eventually, CCS will figure out how to be big instead of small, they are learning. But overall, you can't judge the site by if CCS manages them because the local management is more impactful than the corporation

Trauma Columnist · Jun 7, 2016

Moved to correctional nursing

sugarbear1971 · Jun 8, 2016

As a nurse with many years of hospital bedside experience, I moved into the world of Corrections Nursing. Best move I ever made. I got burned out with the politics and drama of hospital nursing. Never could quite feel like I was a nurse, more of a glorified pill pusher.. No time to actually spend with my patients and give good, quality care. However, having said that, you must understand that in a lot of facilities like mine (I work in a small county jail), the provider usually only comes in once a week for sick call. You MUST be on your A-game and if you have an RN on staff as well to do the assessments, I really think a good solid year at least of med -surg to nail down the basics is always a good idea. Have a thick skin, because things will be said and done to you that you can't be wishy washy about. Remember too that safety is of utmost importance. Inmates are incredibly manipulative and will do or say pretty much anything to get you to do things you really shouldn't. Take the lead from the CO's and learn the safety rules and guidelines. This will serve you well and keep you from unnecessary harm. Read up on substance abuse and mental illness, because a large part of corrections nursing have these elements. I wish you luck!

karenflrz · Jun 10, 2016

Thank you so much for your detailed replies!