rgcirn

Yes it is legal. They aren't administering, they are dispensing. Technicality, but it is legal. The medications are prepackaged and we set up the medication administration record. It is the same as having a med tech.

At the mens medium security prison that I work at, we have officers hand out the controlled medications at pill line 4 x day. If the I/M doesn't show up, they get called up to get their medication and a warning to show up on time. If they fail to show up again, they get a ticket. They even have to show up to refuse their medication. As far as the I/Ms who have officers call the health services unit because they want to be seen for a health related complaint, I personally think you have to use your nursing judgement. We ask to talk to the inmate on the phone (officers hate this, but too bad). That way we can telephone triage their complaint. We have found that this works very well, and the RN gets a better idea of what is going on. The officers tend to embellish what the inmate complains of because they don't understand or are afraid of getting in trouble if there is something wrong. We have one nurse who tells the officer to have the inmate submit a health service request about 99% of the time they call. He never talks to the inmate on the phone. He gets mad at us when we talk to the inmate or tell the officer to have the guy come up (this we do for known asthmatics or cardiac patients who are having problems). I told him, it's my license and if in my nursing judgement I feel this I/M needs to be seen, I am going to see him. He still doesn't like it, but he accepts it. I agree that consistency is very important, the population we work with is extremely manipulative and they have nothing better to do that try to pull one over on us. But, I believe in using my common sense and nursing judgement. I've been fooled several times, but would rather that than overlook a potentially serious illness.

My favorite ever was the minor rash at 2 AM. "How long have you had this rash?" "About a year" "And what about the rash that you've had for a year makes it an emergency at 2 AM?" Ya gotta laugh or you're gonna cry.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience. If you want to pm me I will be happy to talk to you. I am curious about which LTC facility did that to you. I am from NE Wisconsin and have a son who works in LTC as a CNA. I've only done 2 shifts in a LTC, as an agency nurse, they were noc shifts and I was thrown in the deep end without a life preserver. The only time I ever cried coming home from work. Hang in there and let me know if you want to talk, I'd be happy to listen. rgcirn

Good for you :yelclap: We also have someone at work like that. The problem is she does tend to know an awful lot. Has the most remarkable memory for where things are and what happened to whom. So for the most part we let her say what she needs to and then go about what we were doing the way we were doing it. I have at times told her to hold on and let me finish what I am trying to say before you interupt and put your 2 cents in and she will. We all just try to get along, there are only 6 of us for 1000+ inmates so we really need to work together as a team. Anyway, way to go Gardendove. rgcirn

Hello, I work in a correctional facility and we have to take call on our weekends. If the officers call us because someone has a medical complaint, we insist on talking with the inmate. At least we can to a telephone triage and "see" what is going on through the inmates eyes. It doesn't eliminate coming in to assess the inmate, what it does is eliminate the sometimes wrong assessment of the correctional officer. I've found that they tend to embellish (sp) what the inmate is saying. This way if the inmate is c/o cp you can ask the inmate the appropriate questions. I would never rely on the correctional officer to ask the appropriate questions. Simply because each case is different. Maybe this could be an option the sheriff might go for. It could reduce the number of times you must come in while on call, however he needs to know that coming in to see an ill inmate will never be eliminated. Hope this helps, good luck. rgcirn

I think it would give you a bit of insight into what working with inmates involves. They are a challenge. I've found in 3 years working with them that the term con is really very appropriate. Where I work, they try everything they can to con you into giving them something. Sometimes they don't even really want what they are asking for they just want the "victory" of getting it. Advice I would give is to stay on your toes, don't believe everything they tell you, keep it extremely professional and document, document, document. Good Luck rgcirn

Gemini, I am in Wisconsin about an hour or so from you. I am planning to take the Milazzo class in Chicago in May. If you want, PM me and we can talk further. rgcirn

Hi all, Just want to vent a little. I work in the WI DOC and today we finally transferred the biggest pain in the butt in the entire system from our facility to another.:yelclap: This guy was an obsessive hypochondriac who owned a medical text book. Correctional nurses can guess what that means. LOL At least 2 health service request per day, he had every imaginable disease that ended in the word -itis that you could think of. He wanted us all brought up on charges of attempted murder because we wouldn't give him antibiotics. (FYI - every exam was completely normal). It'll be nice not to have to deal with that anymore, but you know what happens next right? We get someone just as bad or worse. Oh well, that's correctional nursing.

Hi, I am new to this site but have been a correctional nurse for 3+ years. I found the most important thing in the interview is to make sure you say you will document everything. Inmates are extremely "sue" happy and you have to be able to cover your butt. I had 2 people interview me, and it was all situational. What would you do if....? Use common sense and be thorough. Good luck. Correctional nursing is like nothing you've ever experienced. rgcirn