How do you know if correctional nursing is for you?

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Specializes in corrections, psychiatric, bedside.

I will be a new grad RN (ADN) come December of this year. I have always had an interest in fields of nursing that cater to less fortunate individuals, or those who experienced traumas/ emotional turmoils in life. I [believe] I would like to work in corrections.

Before going into nursing I had an interest in working in law enforcement however found more passion by working in the medical field (and scrubs ?). For 6 years I worked as a medical assistant in a Primary Care office in a wealthy area and although I learned a lot, I found it to be redundant and boring.

For the last year I have been working in an acute in-patient psychiatric hospital as a phlebotomist, and it has completely opened up my interests to working more on that side of healthcare. I have always been interested in working as a corrections nurse and have spoken to several nurses who love it.

Working in psych has exposed me to dealing with acute mentally ill patients and many patients detoxing from drugs and alcohol. It has also helped me to become stronger emotionally, as we have to deal with many different scenarios (I.e patients in restraints/holds/ vulgar language). Will my current job experience be helpful? Would I need more education than an associates? Any advice would be great as I would love to start thinking about where to take my nursing career soon. Thanks!

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Specializes in Corrections, Dementia/Alzheimer's.

I think you would like it. I took a job in corrections because it was available and the pay was nice. Totally surprised that I loved it! I was a new grad with CNA and CMT experience in an Alzheimer's unit, which I loved, so I had some psych back ground. Being a new nurse, it was rough for a while, but I'm totally glad I stuck it out. Learned a lot.

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Specializes in Corrections/psych.

Given your simultaneous interest in law enforcement then you would probably like it. Spent the last 4 years in corrections nursing with associates. There is always an element of law enforcement; but its custody's job to take care of that. You might need to communicate information with them on occasion. There is a lot of psych nursing in corrections; where I work, a huge percentage of the prisoners are on psych meds, and there are also a couple psych units. I worked in psych before working here, and it is helpful. I'd say the hardest part of my job is dealing with rude inmates; there are many. Sometimes we are short staffed. but other than that, its not very difficult.

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Specializes in Corrections.

I absolutely love corrections. It is a combination of many specialties all rolled into one. The hardest part for me is chronic short staffing.

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Specializes in Peds.

Is it true NSO does not provide to nurses that work in correctional institutes/jails? 

I have the opportunity to work in corrections but I need that information first.

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

A DON that I worked under likened it to a medical clinic in a small town. You see a lot of different things, but usually not huge numbers of any one thing. I have dealt with gunshot wounds, rattlesnake bites and everything in between. There was one inmate who had a disease that only about 5,000 people in the country have. I could have worked an entire career in hospital medicine and never seen a case of it.

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On 2/3/2021 at 11:49 PM, Runsoncoffee99 said:

Is it true NSO does not provide malpractice insurance to nurses that work in correctional institutes/jails? 

I have the opportunity to work in corrections but I need that information first.

Why not ask NSO?

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I call it Jail Nursing.  It could also be Prison Nursing - state, Fed.

If you are thrilled to be out of the hospital setting, if you are happy to learn new things, if you realize that Nursing is not the first priority in the correctional facility but that safety and getting people to Court always come first you will probably love jail work.

While there is a heavy psych component, there is also lots of Med/Surg, trauma (from inmates fighting, from dog bites during arrest, etc.), OB Gyn, and juvenile matters.  Lots of variety.

Good luck.

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
On 4/17/2021 at 1:51 AM, Kooky Korky said:

If you are thrilled to be out of the hospital setting, if you are happy to learn new things, if you realize that Nursing is not the first priority in the correctional facility but that safety and getting people to Court always come first you will probably love jail work.

I tell my staff that we live in custody's world, and we have to operate within it. We had a physician who had problems in the beginning dealing with repeated delays and cancellations. He finally figured out that he was being paid even when we were on lockdown, and he learned to take care of other issues when he wasn't seeing inmates.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

Get the book Games Criminals Play And How You Can Benefit From Knowing Them.  It's really important to not go in there all dewy-eyed while still maintaining open-minded compassion.  It can be quite the balancing act.  And as others have stated, it is not a health care facility so the priorities are very different.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Corrections.

I came to corrections from ICU. IMHO, I think a corrections nurse should have a year of acute care(med-surg/ER/ICU) experience. I've worked with some new grad RNs and their assessment skills leave a lot to be desired. Lack of critical thinking skills too.

Oftentimes, you are the only medical professional on-site. Need to be able to decide when the on-call provider needs notified and what can wait for sick-call. 

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
FNPtobe2020 said:

I came to corrections from ICU. IMHO, I think a corrections nurse should have a year of acute care(med-surg/ER/ICU) experience. I've worked with some new grad RNs and their assessment skills leave a lot to be desired. Lack of critical thinking skills too.

Oftentimes, you are the only medical professional on-site. Need to be able to decide when the on-call provider needs notified and what can wait for sick-call. 

This is precisely why my agency doesn't hire new grad RNs. Our operation requires a degree of independence that new graduates just don't have, and given the chronic short staffing that others have alluded to, we have neither the time nor the ability to bring them up to speed if they have not developed real world clinical skills.

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