Correctional Nursing

I've heard the pay is good and I had a clinical instructor that worked in the prison system in CA but I have also heard you will lose a lot of your skills and that it takes a toll mentally.

A toll mentally? Do you know how so?

You might find the speciality section for correctional nursing will answer most of your questions. There are several threads concerning the CA prison system specifically.

I spent a good number of years in correctional nursing. You can lose some of your technical/machine based skills (working with vents, drips) but you will definitely hone your assessment skills, psych skills and see a very wide range of chronic conditions. One of the areas of assessment I learned while doing correctional care was dental screening. When there is only a part time dentist or a central dental clinic a nurse needs to learn how to prioritize dental complaints. I swear every inmate I have ever encountered had a mouth full of rotting teeth and advanced gum disease.

A toll mentally? Do you know how so?

My clinical instructor said she got tired of the prisoners trying to manipulate her all the time. I guess it all depends on your personality.

My mother was a correctional nurse for 3 years. In the place where she worked she did nothing but triage and chart. They had a "pill nurse" who passed meds and gave insulin. Basically all she did was determine if the inmate was sick enough to be sent out. If not...back to the cell it is. She lost a lot of her skills because all she had to do was take a BP and a temp...She also couldnt stand the inmates smart *** mouths and being disrespetful

moved to the correctional forum for more input

Does anyone reading this have experience/knowledge of what a Correctional Nurse does? What do you do 90% of the time? I'm thinking of something slow paced (aka low stress and easy). I looked at the waiting list for the nursing positions, and it's outrageously long. Anyone know why??

And for what it's worth, I'm interested in the state of California prison systems.

The facility where I work is only slow paced at times. We have around 530 inmates, who can't play well with others, so we have fights, we have trauma, we have industry accidents, the geriatric group has heart attacks, they all seem to have medical, mental health or dental problems. We have inmates transporting in & going out all the time. We have a sick call clinic 5 days a week, dental twice a week, PT, once a week X-ray every other week, three med passes to the open population & three med passes to the Maximum House everyday.It is slower than the ER I used to work in, but there are times, that I have worked up a sweat..Then there is the stress that comes with working with inmates, Corrections is a high stress place to work, as you are working with people that are society challenged, & some of them have a 200 year sentence..A better long term care facility , with less stress would be a Nursing Home type of place..But that is just my opinion...I like high stress places myself.

Ditto AKNURS! That description of Correctional Nursing was absolutely right on...I believe that the general perception of Correctional Nursing is (still) that nothing goes on and it is an easy job, or one where the nurses are sub-par when it comes to their skills. This is so untrue - in fact, as AKNURS so aptly described, it is the exact opposite. I will say that there are some smaller sites that have less staff and may have a slower pace, but that means the nurse's assessment skills and judgement must be excellent. On the whole, it is a challenging career with great benefits - the knowledge that every day you have made a difference (whether the inmate or your colleagues acknowledge it or not!).

:yeahthat:

You are spot on!

Does anyone know anything about the cluster of correctional institutions in rural northeastern ohio. If you are familiar with it you know where they are. I am a new grad and this forum gave me the idea that I could have more choices then LTC.

Thanks

The way I have always put it is that we are paid for what could happen rather than what usually does. When we have our moments, they are usually big ones. Add to that that we work with those that society wants nothing to do with in an environment that most people turn their noses up at, and you understand why correctional salaries are at least decent in most places. No way would I ever voluntarily return to hopsital nursing.

If you are looking for slow paced and less stress correctional nursing is not for you. Corrections is an emerging field and is a high area of liability. I agree with other posters--to be successful in corrections you must have excellent assessment skills and be able to function and work independently. While you do lose some technical skills that you use in the hospital, you also must have a wide knowledge base to deal with the myriad of diseases that you will see. We care for patients with everything from multiple organ transplants to orphan diseases. In many ways jails and prisons mirror the demographics of an inner city ER. You had better know what you are doing because inmates are very litiginous. In many cases rightly so. Becoming a correctional nurse does not mean you leave your nursing standard of care at the door. The standard for corrections is the same as that in the community. For more information on corrections you can visit the website for the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare. This is one of the premier correctional organizations and they have worked to improve the level of care in our nations jails and prisons.