New travel Corrections LPN

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Hi there! I found these posts/responses to be extremely helpful and detailed so I thought I would join and describe my current situation to get fellow nurses' thoughts and advice :)

I have been a LPN since 2010 and have a variety of clinic, contracted experience (general surgery/breast cancer specialty, sports med, family practice, urology, pain management) so I definitely enjoy moving around and learning new aspects of the medical field. I have never traveled before, but recently accepted a 13 week Correctional LPN position in NM, 1300-ish miles away from home. I am excited and frightened at the same time.

Does anyone have any advice or general ideas of what I might expect in the Correctional environment? Thank you so much in advance!

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I just started at a county jail in NM and we have a lot of travelers right now. It is exciting, something funny/odd/exciting happens every day. There are a lot of addicts so lots of detox, lots of mental health issues. The inmates lie as a matter of course, so you have to be always questioning if what they are saying makes sense. The guy who had a medical problem related to every question I asked? More interested in chatting and being out of the cell than really sick. The guy today who told me he smoked for 23 years....he was 24 years old.

Security is a huge concern and that comes first. Each jail has a lot of rules about what you can have inside. I have always felt safe, there are COs everywhere and they don't take any nonsense from the inmates. Some people are claustrophobic, the sally ports can feel small when you are waiting 5 minutes for master control to let you out.

You need to have thick skin, these folks are usually as polite as they know to be but there is a lot of profanity in regular conversation. When they are in a bad mood, don't get what they want, and/or are "kicking" they can be verbally abusive. You have to let that roll off. It is more about them than it will ever be about you.

There is an extra layer between the nurse and the patient in corrections. You can't be buddies with them because they will try to take advantage of it to get special treatment and that will set you up to be blackmailed. I'm friendly, polite, professional but make a point that everyone gets the same level of service.

Suggest reading: The Art of the Con. This gives you an idea of what & how the inmates think and examples of how things can go bad for the professional. The Art of the Con: Avoiding Offender Manipulation: Gary F. Cornelius: 9781569912539: Amazon.com: Books

Good Luck

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Hi and welcome to corrections...the following is taken from one of my previous posts along the same question asked by another person new to this specialty...In addition I would do a google search for "downing a duck" tells a lot about inmate manipulation and the pit falls we all need to be aware of.

Some tips:

1. I always address I/M by their sur name pluse mr/miss. You get repsect when you give it.

2. Always be firm, fair and consistent: firm= no means no, fair= the same goes for all of you, consistent= it will be the same tomorrow.

3. avoid personal conversations with I/M see article mentioned above.

4. a lot of the time LPNs are the best advocates for the I/M because they see them all the time during med pass, as an RN I rely greatly on the observations of my LPNs. So if you see something that concerns you, let your charge nurse know, it really does save lives... see my post "saving lives one cup of gatorade at a time"

that is all for now good luck feel free to message me with any questions

mike

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Thank you so much for your comments and advice!! I am 2 weeks into my contract and am really enjoying the work so far. It is a different environment than I have ever worked before, but I do feel quite safe and everyone has been polite. For a first time traveler it has been a positive experience :)

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What agency are you with, I have lots of experience in corrections, and it's my dream to travel corrections. Please.

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I am working with TruStaff. My recruiter has been absolutely amazing to work with! This is my first assignment with this company and they were very proficient in getting everything taken care of from the application process to the living arrangements. The facility I am at seems to use quite a few travelers, two of which are soon to be completed, so I'm certain they are currently looking for more help.

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Thx and good luck.

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