Sunshine22

I can only give you a point of view from GA, but maybe that will be OK. I have worked for PHS for 10 years and I love it!! Most of my staff has been right there with me for most of the time, as well. I have a small jail and prison, 550, that I am HSA at, and I have a wonderful staff that loves their jobs as well. Times can be stressful, but times can be fun, as well.

I think that alot of the time , the amount of money that you get paid is according to your contract with the county that your jail is in. I am in South GA, and have been with PHS for 10 years, and am the HSA. I wish you well on your interview and hope you get the job. I love working with PHS. Also, I think that alot depends on the territory that you work as well. The South is great with PHS as far as Alot of us are concerned. If you get the job, you need to make friends with Dr. McQueen. She will be wonderful to help you if you will let her. I just wish that she were still here with us in GA. Good luck and let me know if I can help you out.:balloons:

Susan, Basically just do as you said. Just remember that they need to know nothing about you or your life. If they start asking questions, you stop them fast and hard by saying that is none of your business, or i don't have to tell you that , or don't ask me questions unless they pertain to your sick call, or something that puts them down fast and back in their place. If they tell you that your hair looks good, don't tell them thank you and don't just not answer either. You get loud and say something like, officer, did you just hear the personal comment that he made to me? or tell them, that is inappropriate and you will report him or something like that. If they every get into your mind, then they can and eventually will have your job. I have been doing this for over 10 years, and I have seen thousands of games that they play, and several to loose their jobs because of inmates that have nothing to offer. They don't care what happens to you, only that it has helped them!! Good luck...don't be mean...just be firm, and you will be fine.:pumpiron::welcome:

Shell, You are correct in what you say, but there are several things to take into conscideration when dealing with i/ms. I do not have to speak to anyone about anything unless I choose to do so. That was the whole point that I was getting to. Basically, I was having fun with one of the mothers because I knew where the conversation was going. I could have just did the old Ma'm we can't discuss this, and hung up, but she had already crossed over the friendly point, and that is where you can let them know just exactly what you can and cannot do and why you can and cannot do it. I have not heard another word out of this women. Lots of times when you just hang up or get into a shouting match, you just end up having more phone calls. When you let them know exactly what the deal is, you don't have any problems at all. I have been doing this job for 10 years, and it does help sometimes to get creative in ways that you handle things. Sometimes it is better to prove the i/ms wrong in Mama's eyes by letting them get caught lying to Mama about something. That works out great as well. I have even pulled i/ms to be brought up so that Mama can see that he is lying to prove my point. This is why I have the rule for my staff to refer the calls to me during the work week, and then, my nursing staff can do their jobs and not have to worry with the mamas. We are trying to get a dedicated line set up for concerned mamas to leave messages so that we don't have to speak to anyone. They will be told to record their concerns and that the matter will be looked into, but they will not receive a response from us. This will take care of everything.

Course when you let them know that they are over the age of 18 and the law prohibits us from speaking to anyone other than the actual i/m about his healthcare, this does sometimes work. Then you can let them know that you weill be happy to speak to them if they have power of attorney over then person that they are talking about. I had one lady to tell me that "Oh, by the way, I do have power of attorney over him." I told her that was wonderful, and when she came to the jail and produced the POA and proper ID for herself, that I would be more than happy to discuss anything that she wanted to. Her answer to this was, very sarcastically, was, "Well you are just a piece of work, aren't you??" I told her that I was just CMA so that I didn't have to worry about lawsuits or having to find a new job. My nursing staff knows that the stock answer is, "Ma'am, you need to call M-F from 8-5 and speak to my supervisor concerning this patient." This gets them out of the picture and then, depending on how the phone call goes, we can chat, or I can hang up!!:smiley_ab

My secretery would call our trustee down on the weekends when she would come in to catch up on her filing. The nurse would be out on med pass, so everyone knew not to bring any of the i/m to be seen while she was out on med pass. The sec. and the trustee would have about an hour that noone checked on anything to do what they wanted to. I heard thru the i/m grape line that the dental chair was a hot spot!!! YUK!!!:barf01:

Been there...done that!!! Had a MH I/M to attack me from the back with both fists to the head neck and shoulder, and then the inch long fingernails into the back of the neck up into the scalp. I didn't have a clue until it was over. Thank God for the 4 officers that pulled her off of me. I didn't miss time at work, but I did hurt for several days. Definitely don't want to do it again, but this was the 1st time anyone had laid a finger on me in the 10 years of corrections nursing that I have done.:pumpiron:

I think that you are doing the right thing with the I/M's as far as you have said. If the other nurses have the attitude that they have, they should not last long in this type of nursing. You have to remember that I/M's ahve more rights than we do, and they will use them anyway that they can. I try to tell my staff that they can have the EMPATHY not the SYMPATHY for these guys. They are not dogs, unless they choose to be. During our med passes, I do not allow my staff to conduct sick call, but the I/M's can definitely question doses. If they need to ask other things, they are asked to fill our sick calls and come to Medical. If there is an urgent matter, then by all means we address that at the time. If these other nurses are trying to 'get back at you' for things, you need to keep a small notebook to yourself anf start writing and writing. If it comes down to it, you have notes and times to help you out.

Jersey, Where are you taking a corrections course online. Can you put the link up for us to see?

Madison, You sound like you have my medical director!! He likes to use just the Bactrim. It doesn't kick it all the way. We did have another doc that used the Bactrim and Rifampin, and it was OK. Then, we had another doc that used Bactrim and Doxy....worked like a charm. There wasn't alot of repeat break outs either. But...you know how it is when you try to tell a doc what worked with another doc.

Georgia used to have the law of 1-3 years for being w/ an I/M. According to our Warden, the law has changed to 10-30 years and you do at least 10!!! I haven't had any of my nurses to do this, but I have had 2 admin. assist. to do this within the last 6 months. One of my admins. was here for 5 years before she found 'her' man, and then the next one was here for less than 6 months before she lost her job to the I/M. They were both told very firmly upfront and all thru the course of their jobs what the consequences would be. The reason that most of us just cannot comprehend the mentality of these people is because we have the correct mindset and cannot phathom the thought of this stupidity. We know right from wrong, and understand our jobs.:nono:

I have been doing this job for 10 years now, and was attacked by a psych i/m about 4 months ago. She was in the infirmary and I had 4 big officers with me at the time. She wiggled through them and got to me before I knew what was happening. She got several blows to the back of my head and neck and wound her hands into my shoulder length hair before they could get her off of me. I agree with the nurse in the video. I was in total shock at first, and then I was angry. I thought that I was very careful and thought my officers were too, but things can go very wrong in a split second. Needlesee to say, she got assault charges added to her existing charges, and was locked down. Can I say that this will never happen again? No, but I will try to be even more cautious from now on. This happened while we were going in to force meds for sedation. Even though this happened, I never once thought of leaving corrections. This is the best job I have ever had in nursing...just a mishap that I learned from. Be prepared!!!

I have worked for PHS going on 9 years in February. I love it!!! Maybe it is somewhat different in my region, but I don't run into the problems that are posted above. Yes, we are a private corrections health service that is contracted out to different jails and prisons across the country. I think that we are in about 33ish states. Yes, the company does have to make money, after all, it is a business. Just as a hospital, or nursing home, or doctor's office... Yes, I do operate within a yearly budget, but , yes, my nurses do there jobs well. We do care for all types of patients (yes, we call them patients per the company) and for the most part, love the jobs that we do. As far as PHS only being in it for the money...yes, I do have to make a request for capital expenditures, but I can use my budget for things that we need like new drug info books, PDR's, medical, dental and office supplies at my discression, patient teaching stuff, etc... Yes, we do have policies and procedures for the way that things are done, doesn't every company. Some of our sites only have doctors and dentists that are PHS, and some of our sites have only nurses that are PHS, and some of our sites have full staffs that are PHS. This has alot to do with the county administrators or the state administrators and the way that they want the sites to be set up. We create a staff to satisfy what the county or state wants in their contracts. My staff consist of myself,(Health Service Administrator and LPN--9 years), a RN of 9 years that started the same day I did, 5 more LPN's (8 years here, 7 years here, 2 years here, and 2 new ones of less that one year), a medical doctor, a dentist, a mental health doctor, and a mental health counselor, and I am looking for an additional nurse to ADD to our staff now, not to replace some one. Yes, you have turnover anywhere you work, but I have a strong core of nurses that have stuck it out. I have read of several people whom have worked for PHS in the past and put down this company lower than dirt, and I am sure that this will happen again, because this company is not the golden ticket just like no other company in the world is. I have also read several good things about this company. I can only give my side of it. To work in South GA for the region of PHS that I work for, I dearly love my job...Yes, there are those days that I could throw my job to the dogs, but then, do we all have those days?? I just take a breath and start over, and over, and over...sometimes..haha! If you are unsure as to how you want to approach the job, start out PRN, and see if it is for you. Corrections nursing is definitely in a world of its own. I hope that you have good luck with it. I am here if you want to ask any questions about PHS...maybe I can help.:)

Yea, we have a site in Cherokee County. That would be Canton, GA. We also have 2 sites in Gwinnett County. Can't remember the city, but it is just south of Atlanta. Hope this helps. The HSAs' at those sites are wonderful!!!:) :) :)

Did you find what you were looking for about the PHS sites in GA? I think that htere are either 8 or 9 of us in GA. Let me know if you need some help when you start looking.:roll :roll