Great Job! I have been a correctional nurse for a long time. I am now in administration but nurse's like you are what it is all about. Doesn't matter if he's hard core or what he has done, he is your patient and you did just what you should have done. I have been called chocolate heart, inmate lover, you name it and I have heard it from correctional staff during my career. It just doesn't matter, they are our patients and we are all they have. Your motto is absolutely true. I had a doc once order me not to send and offender out, I did anyway and he died in the hospital of an abdominal aneurism. He was a full code and I new something was very wrong. I was acknowledged for a job done right and the doc was told if he didnt want him sent he should have come in and done his own assessment. You should be very proud, stick with it corrections needs nurses like you. Followthe rules but take care of the patient.
It really depends on your state as to what the rules for medication administration are. Here in Idaho the Board of Nursing controls the rules and how it is done. They don't get involved too much with the prison stuff but it has to be within the administrative rules. Here the meds are pulled and the small pill envelopes labeled as if it was a mini mar. Name, #, med, dose and route must be on there. Only the nurse who pulled them can give tem and the MAR is filled out when the nurse returns, after the inmate has taken the meds. When they are pulled we use the dot system to show which ones were pulled and placed in the envelopes. Envelopes for recurring meds are replaced each week and there is a separte envelope for each dose and time it is to be given.
Sounds like things are a bit lax in this place you describe. First it is not a bad thing for the C/Os to be on the friendly side as long as they still enforce the rules. They are here everyday with these inmates so a little bit of that is understandable, but in my experience these nice C/Os can take someone out in a heartbeat it need be. The fact that many are young is not unusual. If they are having a hard time staying staffed this will happen. My hope is that they are paired with experienced officers for a time befire they are running a unit on their own. Whisper because they hear everything is absolutely true. In my expereince of 10 years in corrections, this is not a good thing to let these offenders know anything personal about you. You mention lots of staff assaults, this is not normal. These things do happen but they should not happen often. There should be good control if you are working with the biggest and the baddest in a Shu as you describe. As far as the nurse not intervening this is abasolutley correct, ofcourse he should have called a code and radioed for help. If I were you I would do a little lmore research into what you are getting into. It doesnt sound all normal to me. Prison isn't that scarely if you follow the rules and have a good team with security. What state are you in? Is medical privatized or not? That can make a difference. Good Luck!
Hello all, I am preparing to take the CCHP exam in San Antonio on the 18th of May. Would love to hear from those who have taken the exam with any study tips I can get and also anyone preparing for it. Sure would like to have a study buddy or some one at least to bounc thngs off of. There is no one out here where I am taking it at the same time so I am all alone.
Thanks in advance for any help I can get!! :bowingpur
I have worked for the DOC run prison system as well as privatized medical. I have worked for Prison Health Services and Correntional Medical Services. I was so not impressed. I love corrections and in my current state of residence we have only privatized medical. PHS and CMS were not so great but I must say CMS was worse. It is not the staff thay have but the way they treat them. They don't pay well enough this is for sure, and what one person said earlier is so true, they work short and expect absolutle loyalty from their staff. If they need you to work over time or at a different post, wheter your trained, feel comfortable in that post, or whether your child is sick, they just don't care. They need the job done and they are just not very concerned with how it gets done. I found this to be the case at upper management levels, not at the prison level. But this kind of upper level managment doesnt do much for staff retention. One of our prisons is run by CCA, they are not so great with their pay and they also work everyone on a shoestring. It is really too bad that these kinds of companies don't try harder to work with their staff.
I remember my first day in corrections. It was very different from comminity nursing. I was fortunate to be allowed to follow a nurse in the prison for an entire shift on the day of my interview. At the end of that day the interview took place. That is really the only way to know if this is something you would even like. It is a shame to hire nurses and have them leave in a short time because it just isnt for them. Ask if this is possible, get a good feel for the envirnment before you decide.
I have to agree with elkpark, some good experience in just nursing will help you greatly. Nurses in corrections aren't always able to teach and precept a new nurse when they arrive. The environment often works with as little staff as possible and the work load is not lighter. everything happens in a correctional facility medical unit from emergencies that are serious and require immediate ability to think on one's feet, to an offender who just came to medical so someone will listen to him for a moment. Facilities differ in the services they provide which means you could be doing a variety of things. The corrections environment needs good nurses and I encourage anyone to try it. I love it and have done it all in the past 20 years, but it isn't for everyone and it is not the best place to gain first hand knowlege of nursing skills. Good luck to you and I hope you love it as I do.
One more thing, check out what happens in your state with medical care. If it is contracted out to a indendent medical contractor instead of being run by your state corrections department, it may not be what you want. Ask lots of questions before you take a position.
You could see his heart beat in his abdomen from the hall. It was so obvious something was very wrong.
Great Job! I have been a correctional nurse for a long time. I am now in administration but nurse's like you are what it is all about. Doesn't matter if he's hard core or what he has done, he is your patient and you did just what you should have done. I have been called chocolate heart, inmate lover, you name it and I have heard it from correctional staff during my career. It just doesn't matter, they are our patients and we are all they have. Your motto is absolutely true. I had a doc once order me not to send and offender out, I did anyway and he died in the hospital of an abdominal aneurism. He was a full code and I new something was very wrong. I was acknowledged for a job done right and the doc was told if he didnt want him sent he should have come in and done his own assessment. You should be very proud, stick with it corrections needs nurses like you. Followthe rules but take care of the patient.
It really depends on your state as to what the rules for medication administration are. Here in Idaho the Board of Nursing controls the rules and how it is done. They don't get involved too much with the prison stuff but it has to be within the administrative rules. Here the meds are pulled and the small pill envelopes labeled as if it was a mini mar. Name, #, med, dose and route must be on there. Only the nurse who pulled them can give tem and the MAR is filled out when the nurse returns, after the inmate has taken the meds. When they are pulled we use the dot system to show which ones were pulled and placed in the envelopes. Envelopes for recurring meds are replaced each week and there is a separte envelope for each dose and time it is to be given.
Sounds like things are a bit lax in this place you describe. First it is not a bad thing for the C/Os to be on the friendly side as long as they still enforce the rules. They are here everyday with these inmates so a little bit of that is understandable, but in my experience these nice C/Os can take someone out in a heartbeat it need be. The fact that many are young is not unusual. If they are having a hard time staying staffed this will happen. My hope is that they are paired with experienced officers for a time befire they are running a unit on their own. Whisper because they hear everything is absolutely true. In my expereince of 10 years in corrections, this is not a good thing to let these offenders know anything personal about you. You mention lots of staff assaults, this is not normal. These things do happen but they should not happen often. There should be good control if you are working with the biggest and the baddest in a Shu as you describe. As far as the nurse not intervening this is abasolutley correct, ofcourse he should have called a code and radioed for help. If I were you I would do a little lmore research into what you are getting into. It doesnt sound all normal to me. Prison isn't that scarely if you follow the rules and have a good team with security. What state are you in? Is medical privatized or not? That can make a difference. Good Luck!
Hello all, I am preparing to take the CCHP exam in San Antonio on the 18th of May. Would love to hear from those who have taken the exam with any study tips I can get and also anyone preparing for it. Sure would like to have a study buddy or some one at least to bounc thngs off of. There is no one out here where I am taking it at the same time so I am all alone.
Thanks in advance for any help I can get!! :bowingpur
I have worked for the DOC run prison system as well as privatized medical. I have worked for Prison Health Services and Correntional Medical Services. I was so not impressed. I love corrections and in my current state of residence we have only privatized medical. PHS and CMS were not so great but I must say CMS was worse. It is not the staff thay have but the way they treat them. They don't pay well enough this is for sure, and what one person said earlier is so true, they work short and expect absolutle loyalty from their staff. If they need you to work over time or at a different post, wheter your trained, feel comfortable in that post, or whether your child is sick, they just don't care. They need the job done and they are just not very concerned with how it gets done. I found this to be the case at upper management levels, not at the prison level. But this kind of upper level managment doesnt do much for staff retention. One of our prisons is run by CCA, they are not so great with their pay and they also work everyone on a shoestring. It is really too bad that these kinds of companies don't try harder to work with their staff.
I remember my first day in corrections. It was very different from comminity nursing. I was fortunate to be allowed to follow a nurse in the prison for an entire shift on the day of my interview. At the end of that day the interview took place. That is really the only way to know if this is something you would even like. It is a shame to hire nurses and have them leave in a short time because it just isnt for them. Ask if this is possible, get a good feel for the envirnment before you decide.
I have to agree with elkpark, some good experience in just nursing will help you greatly. Nurses in corrections aren't always able to teach and precept a new nurse when they arrive. The environment often works with as little staff as possible and the work load is not lighter. everything happens in a correctional facility medical unit from emergencies that are serious and require immediate ability to think on one's feet, to an offender who just came to medical so someone will listen to him for a moment. Facilities differ in the services they provide which means you could be doing a variety of things. The corrections environment needs good nurses and I encourage anyone to try it. I love it and have done it all in the past 20 years, but it isn't for everyone and it is not the best place to gain first hand knowlege of nursing skills. Good luck to you and I hope you love it as I do.
One more thing, check out what happens in your state with medical care. If it is contracted out to a indendent medical contractor instead of being run by your state corrections department, it may not be what you want. Ask lots of questions before you take a position.