Is this the Job for me?

Anna S, RN · Jul 17, 2014

One of the reasons I was interested in corrections nursing is that I, too, am so not into the customer service thing.

I've been a nurse for over 20 years, and have been in corrections for 6 months- and I do like it.

I do see the same inmates over and over and am friendly with them, but not overly so. I've only had a problem with two inmates being disrespectful to me. That was solved by me standing up for myself, writing one of them up, and by them seeing that I am a good nurse who has their best interests in mind.

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Jul 17, 2014

I loved working corrections (I don't work any more, I'm a full time, stay at home mom). I was able to stand up for myself & if an inmate was rude or disgusting send them off. Honestly sometimes it felt safer than at a nursing home (never worked in a hospital) since you have COs there & inmates are more likely to attack the COs.

nursechris1 · Jul 17, 2014

I was a correctional nurse for a year and a half. I really enjoyed it. I left because I was the only RN working there, on call 24/7, and I was working all the time. I worked 8 hour days, and if I didn't have an EMT or CNA to pass meds in the evening, then I had to go in.( I was salaried so I didn't get one extra penny). I worked for a contract company, and they just didn't seem to care. I liked the fact that I didn't have to take crap from patients. I could be blunt with them. I didn't have to worry about patient satisfaction surveys. I wasn't mean to the inmates, but I didn't give in to every little thing they wanted. I did have a problem with some inmates, especially the females, who were very manipulative and persistent. I worked with a great jail captain who was very supportive. This was a county jail, so the inmates were usually there less than a year. I don't think I could work in a prison where the inmates are in for longer sentences. If I could have worked my hours and gone home, no call, no extra hours, I would probably still be there. I loved the deputies, they treated me like family.

PG2018 · Jul 17, 2014

I genuinely feel that patient satisfaction-focused care will break America's healthcare systems. It's expensive, it's driving good employees out of the hospital, and institutions are getting reimbursed based on customer service rather than "cure." If I wanted to fetch coffee I'd have hit up Starbucks. They smell better and are cleaner.

TriciaJ, RN · Jul 18, 2014

I used to work in a county jail. The captain and most of the deputies were generally supportive. The person who ran medical was another story. Clueless and jumped on every ridiculous bandwagon. So one day she decided to survey the inmates to see if they were satisfied with their care and if they thought they should have to pay for any of it. Guess what? They weren't entirely satisfied and didn't think they should have to pay for anything. I could have saved her a pile of time and paper if she'd just asked me.

I mention this because someone said in corrections you don't have to deal with stupid patient satisfaction surveys. But in that workplace, no idea was too out-to-lunch to be implemented.

Nurse J1112 · Jul 21, 2014

Thank you for all your replies, I interviewed a week ago to a facility in Homestead FL but I never followed throughwith it because I got a bad feeling from the person interviewing me. He didnt seem to care at all and was way to dry and monotone. I was wondering... are all correctional institutions still on paper? I saw there was no paperless anything at this particular facility... And also, if I go into corrections as a new grad will I ever be able to go back and work in a hospital if I wanted?

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Jul 21, 2014

Thank you for all your replies, I interviewed a week ago to a facility in Homestead FL but I never followed throughwith it because I got a bad feeling from the person interviewing me. He didnt seem to care at all and was way to dry and monotone. I was wondering... are all correctional institutions still on paper? I saw there was no paperless anything at this particular facility... And also, if I go into corrections as a new grad will I ever be able to go back and work in a hospital if I wanted?

No it depends on the facility & who or what runs it. I worked at one that was all on the computer & another that was all on paper.

Anna S, RN · Jul 24, 2014

I work in a specialty area in the prison, and we are paper charting. The rest of medical at the prison just went computerized about a month ago.