Correctional Nursing-Last Stop For Nurses who can't make it anywhere else

Specialties Correctional

Published

I came to correctional nursing after 4 years of ER experience in a level 1 trauma center. I was burned-out and ready for a change. One of the first things I noticed hanging on the wall of the nurses station in the max security prison I accepted a postion in, was an ad to join the correctional nurses association to counteract the perception that correctional nurses were "less than perfect nurses". I must admit, at least in my experience, truer words have rarely been written. Some of the worst nurses I have ever seen have been correctional nurses. Most have not been able to "hack-it" anywhere else they have worked and correctional nursing is the last stop before getting out of nursing completely. I could tell you stories of botched assessments, med errors, inability to manage medical emergencies, inability to draw blood or start IV's that you would find hard to believe. After 3 years as a correctional nurse I'm going back to the ER where incompetence is not tolerated.

Nice presentation of what it is really like to be a correctional nurse. I have been a correctional nurse for almost 10 years and love it! It is my theory that nurses are not put in places to judge, rather to care and support all patients equally no matter the situation.

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

Wow. I've only read the 1st page and skimmed the rest, but I cannot believe that someone would post something like that in this forum.

I'd just like to tip my hat to you men and women who work in prisons and jails. (I'm admittedly too much of a wuss to seriously consider it)

I've only worked with one ex-correctional nurse, and he was good-if anything a bit more autonomous than other LPNs I worked with.

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Specializes in Mental Health.
I came to correctional nursing after 4 years of ER experience in a level 1 trauma center. I was burned-out and ready for a change. One of the first things I noticed hanging on the wall of the nurses station in the max security prison I accepted a postion in, was an ad to join the correctional nurses association to counteract the perception that correctional nurses were "less than perfect nurses". I must admit, at least in my experience, truer words have rarely been written. Some of the worst nurses I have ever seen have been correctional nurses. Most have not been able to "hack-it" anywhere else they have worked and correctional nursing is the last stop before getting out of nursing completely. I could tell you stories of botched assessments, med errors, inability to manage medical emergencies, inability to draw blood or start IV's that you would find hard to believe. After 3 years as a correctional nurse I'm going back to the ER where incompetence is not tolerated.

I guess I may be one of few nurses that can relate to what you are stating. However, the facility that I work for is very disorganized and this contributes to some of the problems that we have. I was not offended by your post because I could tell that you were frustrated and simply stating what you have experienced. In my facility it's kind of anything goes...nurses come to work late, and leave early, and transcribe part of doctors orders, go out for a smoke when a patients are in the ER and need to be assessed. I know all facilities are not like mine and thank God for that...

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Specializes in ICU/ER/TRANSPORT.

Boy what a pair of gohonez..I've never worked as a correctional nurse, but I do know a girl in Louisianna that does. As far as I know she has never worked a day in a icu,ccu or a level 1 truama/er, and I've never worked a shift with her. But I do know her well enough that she takes her job seriously. And I can vouch for her compassion, I'd tend to say she would put up with more crap from those folks than I would. Again getting back to your invitation to get flamed, I don't think she would like to be added into your broad personal assessment of correctional nurses.

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I have been working for corrections as an lvn for the last 3 months.

My facilty no longer has any MTA's. WE have lost 4 LVN in the last 3 months. Corrections is not for everyone.

It is true that your whole out look changes working as a nurse in CDCR.

The inmates test you on a daily basis. If you get known for bending the rules or hooking up the inmates you can be disciplined or walked off (fired)

Even a simple thing like handing out bandaids is frowned upon. an inmate use them to fasten a handle for a shank. Others use them to cover newly aquired injuries to mask injuries during a fight.

Its hard to be a "nice" nurse here

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Whoa.... I'm new on this forum and this thread really hit home with me. I take major offense to it. I have been a nurse for 30 years(22 yrs as private clinic nurse, 5 of 'em a correctional nurse) For 4 years I was a nurse at our county jail, juvenile detention center, and group home. Last year I had to let one of 'em go and I chose to stay with the juvenile detention center and group home. I was the only nurse at all of these facilities and I was stretched too thin.

I must say correctional nursing was a chapter they left of my nursing handbooks. It requires a lot of experience, understanding, and gut feeling. It has been both, challeging and rewarding. I can see where it would not be for everyone. I am on call 24/7 and that can be quite exhausting at times.

I am not only the nurse, I am trained as an officer, control operator, intake officer, trained to transport to medical and mental health appointments. I have had to become familiar and active with the juvenile court system, mechanical restraints, physical restraining, major psy, suicide, and self-harm issues. This may be my last stop because I love taking care of these troubled children and don't plan on leaving them and it is not because I can't make it anywhere else. It probably would be easier for me at 50 years old to go somewhere else, but I choose not to. I had made it somewhere else for 22 years( experience in lab, xray, ekg, immunizations, IVs, ob/gyn, peds, geriatrics, etc.) and was burnt out with the clinic setting and the private MD I worked for retired. My years of clinic experience helped to prepare me for the majority of things I face each day now. I need to add that being a juvenile correctional nurse also sometimes requires a good set of listening ears, kind heart and a soft shoulder.

Well, let me climb down off this soap box and be a little benign for a while. ;)

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Specializes in most anything's in corrections.

first, i'd like to say that i am sorry to hear you had a bad experience in correctional nursing. that type of atmosphere can be difficult for many nurses to adjust to. not only are you a nurse, but you have to be able to think "security" first in everything you attempt to do. working with healthcare staff that have been in the "system" for many years can also derail a lot of newcomers idealations about patient care. you probably learned about the 3 "c"s of corrections--custody, control, & care. in corrections, they are in just that order---custody and control are always first, care last. this was the hardest concept for me to learn and most of all, to accept. but with my years of service, i have learned this is the way it has to be. yes, it's true that our skills can be limited, but where we are lacking in some areas, we exceed in others. for instance, our psych skills are unsurpassed, we can triage emergencies with the best of regular emergency room hospital nurses. our documentation of occurances have to be top-notch due to the abundance of frivolous lawsuits filed by the inmates against the medical department when they don't "get their way". as with any specialty nursing area, you learn and grow to be the best at what you do where you're at. i certainly couldn't go into, for example, cardiac or pediatric nursing at this point in my career, because i do not have the current skills to provide proper care to these types of patients. this fact doesn't mean that i am not a competent nurse. i, as the other nurses in my line of work, have made a choice to make correctional nursing a career. the money is fantastic, the benefits are great, overtime is always there if you like, or need, the extra money, and best of all---retirement at the age of 50 if you have at least 20 years of service in. considering that the current age for social security is 67 or 68, this is a considerable perk for working for the doc. my retirement check when i'm finished will be around $3,000 per month, and, if social security is still around when i reach their required age, i will be getting that money also every month. so all in all, working as a correctional nurse makes good financial sense. i am "doc proud" and very thankful that i fell into such a good job when i did.

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Specializes in geriatric, hospice, med/surg.

Sorry, guys and girls. I, too, had an unpleasant awakening when I sampled nursing for inmates at the local county detention center. It was unlike anything I could have imagined. Many times have I wished I hadn't wasted the time I did on trying to become oriented there. Left right after orientation which included thoughts of many of the same as op. I, too, have a variety of nursing experience. I, too, was appalled and disappointed. Thought that the nurses and other health care providers would be at least professional and courteous towards each other. It was as backbiting and unprofessional as any of the rest.

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Thought that the nurses and other health care providers would be at least professional and courteous towards each other. It was as backbiting and unprofessional as any of the rest.

I personally haven't had any bad experiences but, unfortunately ... that can happen anywhere in any job. What I've done is go to work for state corrections. That way, if I run into a toxic environment, I can easily transfer units or facilities if there's too much back biting ... because there's lots of positions I can transfer to.

:typing

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I have a question? Does anyone suggest as a new LPN starting off in a correctional facility. I plan to finish my schooling later

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.

Our prison has lost 4 really, really good nurses in the last 10 months. We still have me for another month (just graduated with RN) and 2 other nurses are really good. What is left is a nurse with arthritis so bad that she is unable to draw blood or start IV's and her handwriting is almost worse than a doctors. Another nurse works nights and does nothing. Another nurse has the nickname of "stroke victim" because she is so slow and dumb.

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Specializes in ER, PACU, CORRECTIONAL HEALTH, FLIGHT.

yall can hate on the original poster all you want, but i hate to admit it, she's mostly right. from MY experience, working in large prisons, penitentiaries, county jails, detention centers, in two states, i have seen incompetence that would NEVER cut it in even in a nursing home or med-surg floor of a poorly run facility. i cant begin to tell you how BAD some of the nurses i have worked with in prisons were. it was downright scary. some worked in prison because they had limitations to practice. they couldnt practice as an RN in an "acute care setting" etc.

i currently work ER and PACU.......but LOVE correctional health and cant wait to go back to it, regardless.

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