I have been an LVN in corrections for over 10 years, 11, next month actually! I LOVE it! I would never want to do any other kind of nursing! The pay is excellent, the benefits are superior to any other job around here. It is a dynamic environment that requires a lot of FAST critical thinking. We have trauma (at least a couple of times a week in my yard), stabbing, occasional gun shot wounds, seizures, overdoses, infected heroin infected sites, hangings, foreign bodies in people’s colons, infected tattooed, marbles in the penis, you name it! We got it! I feel very safe in my maximum security prison, the officers are top notch, the inmates are for the most part respectful, and everything runs like a well oiled machine. As a charge nurse in a nursing home and former CNA, I was physically assaulted multiple times, sexually harassed by residents on multiple occasions, chocked, punched and almost stabbed by a crazy old lady whose daughter thought it would be a great idea to give her mom a huge super pointy pair of scissor because “mom loves to sew”. Talking about that, NOT dealing with the families of my patients its worth the world’s weight in gold to me! I cannot even begin to imagine why an LVN would want to work in any other setting. This type of nursing is definitely not for everyone, but if you are the kind of person that has strong personal and professional boundaries, likes to make money (my first two years, I made over $100,000 each year, and was able to buy and pay off my house), wants to retire one day, and you can sift through the *** manipulative tactics of the inmates, while keeping a fair and consistent attitude, please come on in and welcome to the dark side.
