Nurse or CO?

[Do_Good]

I have been in a mens' correctional facility for 3 years. I constantly hear other nurses making judgements about an inmate because as one of them put it today, "they are always out for secondary gain." As a result, inmates whom may have real medical issues sometimes get swept aside because of it.

I work hard to be firm, fair, and consistent. I don't want what someone else says or what I'm "supposed to be like" cloud my critical thinking and assessment of a patient. That is not to say that there are some guys who come to sick call and all they want is to get away from their unit, or have a break for the COs or their blockmates, or just to be treated kindly and they have nothing wrong...but a good assessment will tease that out.

I'd like your thoughts. Am I being naive?

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

It is true that inmates will lie & fake symptoms to go to medical. But you have to really use good judgement skills to see if the inmate really needs help. Because that one time the inmate is ignored or disregarded is the one time he might actually need help. It is hard not to judge every inmate as a liar, but one bad apple doesn't ruin the whole bunch.

[Barbara H.]

Yes, IM who have real medical issues get swept aside...And it bites the med companies who contract there in the butt. Nice breeding ground for lawsuits and we as nurses are right in the middle of it...the other side of correctional nursing.