1,000 inmates 4 night nurses.......

dazzle256 · Oct 27, 2004

I applied for a job and thats what the ratio is. Does that sound right? Sounds like an awful lot to me.

Salty1 · Oct 27, 2004

I applied for a job and thats what the ratio is. Does that sound right? Sounds like an awful lot to me.

It may or may not be a heavy case load. It is assumed that the correctional facility census is 1000 and if you divide that number by 4 Nurses that works out to a ratio of 250 inmates to 1 nurse. What percentage of 250 would you expect to require the services of the nurse. Although you do not so state one could assume that this is a relatively young population (no chronically ill, geriatric patients) that would only infrequently require nursing services.

It is noted that you indicate "night nurses" and if that means 11 to 7 or 12 to 8 a.m. then I would think that 4 nurses would be quite adequate since the majority of the patients are asleep. You do not indicate what other responsibilities are required of the nurse. Are new inmates admitted during the night shift that require screening, i.e., planting of PPD, Medical History, etc. are the inmates male or female? Does the facility have an inpatient clinic or ward requiring one nurse to monitor the patients? If you were to supply more information I am sure you would get a fairly good response.

Salty1 · Oct 27, 2004

I applied for a job and thats what the ratio is. Does that sound right? Sounds like an awful lot to me.

It may or may not be a heavy case load. It is assumed that the correctional facility census is 1000 and if you divide that number by 4 Nurses that works out to a ratio of 250 inmates to 1 nurse. What percentage of 250 would you expect to require the services of the nurse. Although you do not so state one could assume that this is a relatively young population (no chronically ill, geriatric patients) that would only infrequently require nursing services.

It is noted that you indicate "night nurses" and if that means 11 to 7 or 12 to 8 a.m. then I would think that 4 nurses would be quite adequate since the majority of the patients are asleep. You do not indicate what other responsibilities are required of the nurse. Are new inmates admitted during the night shift that require screening, i.e., planting of PPD, Medical History, etc. are the inmates male or female? Does the facility have an inpatient clinic or ward requiring one nurse to monitor the patients? If you were to supply more information I am sure you would get a fairly good response.

Blackcat99 · Oct 27, 2004

:chuckle 4 Nurses for 1,000 inmates? Sounds like overstaffing to me. How lucky can you get? Congratulations! That's not bad staffing at all.

Blackcat99 · Oct 27, 2004

:chuckle 4 Nurses for 1,000 inmates? Sounds like overstaffing to me. How lucky can you get? Congratulations! That's not bad staffing at all.

dazzle256 · Oct 27, 2004

:chuckle 4 Nurses for 1,000 inmates? Sounds like overstaffing to me. How lucky can you get? Congratulations! That's not bad staffing at all.

Thanks to both of you :). As far as I know we will be admitting inmates during the night.

dazzle256 · Oct 27, 2004

:chuckle 4 Nurses for 1,000 inmates? Sounds like overstaffing to me. How lucky can you get? Congratulations! That's not bad staffing at all.

Thanks to both of you :). As far as I know we will be admitting inmates during the night.

fiestynurse · Oct 30, 2004

The staffing depends on the medical acuity of the inmate population and the responsibilities of the nurses on duty. Does the facility have an infirmary or medical unit? Also, are these nurses RNs, LVNs, or unlicensed staff?

Generally, four nurses on nights for a population of 1,000 is pretty good staffing.

dazzle256 · Nov 3, 2004

The staffing depends on the medical acuity of the inmate population and the responsibilities of the nurses on duty. Does the facility have an infirmary or medical unit? Also, are these nurses RNs, LVNs, or unlicensed staff?
Generally, four nurses on nights for a population of 1,000 is pretty good staffing.

There is an infirmary but I'm not sure how many beds. I'm going to go for an interview and ask more questions.

Thanks for your replies. I need to get out of hospital nursing :)

oneLoneNurse · Nov 3, 2004

I worked at Delaware County Broad Meadows, you give out alot of tylenol. In fact you carry it in your pockets like candy. Anyone asking for tylenol usually received it. We had an infirmary, but if inmates were really sick they would get sent out.

One of the most exciting places to work and inmates for the most part are thankful someone is there to take care of them. They trained a mouse to sit up on the counter while we poured water for the meds. Cleanliness is not something you should expect.

mcmike55 · Nov 3, 2004

I applied for a job and thats what the ratio is. Does that sound right? Sounds like an awful lot to me.

First off, I know almost nothing about Correctional facilites, but

a thousand inmates and four nurses sound like the plot for a bad XXXX rated movie.

But seriously folks, that sound unsafe all the way around.