cid2008

THis is why we have a grievance process...I had an administrator who was stealing promethazine from our pharmacy, and had been for a very long time, accuse me of being the thief in front of fellow workers...I immediately filed a grievance against her...the form asked what outcome I desired from this action...I stated I wanted my name cleared and my licenses secured...to this ladies dismay she was walked off the Unit, during the investigation they proved she was taking the drugs. When I went to our Warden, I told him I felt I was being set up for the fall of the true guilty...she and the Doc are both gone because of these accusations and what surfaced during the investigation. I have seen so many in security and medical be set up and walked off during my 21/2 years...sometimes you wonder who the convicts are!!HAHA Never ever...as several others have stated should you confront this witch alone...paper and process, that is where it is at...when it happens again, get her for retaliation. Show yourself and those around you who the professional is!!

just another tidbit...Sometimes I say to the officer...your job is security and mine is medicine...why don't we attempt to take care of our specific jobs. If you feel there is a security issue involved here please inform me and we will go from there. At any time did you question why they were so adimate about sending this offender to the E.R.? I know that they are clamping down on security just like they are us about neglect. In Texas, the law now has it where security can serve time for not acting appropriately concerning the safety and care of the I/M...Safe Prisons and ACA have some pretty rigid guide lines.

Security medicine is so very common...but my view point is...see the offender as a pt., not an offender ...we so often see them only as I/m's and this is beginning to become a problem in the state of Texas. Many nurses are loosing their license secondary to neglect. I try to remeber that these men have abused their bodies severely before arriving here...some of them are really very sick...too many times they are sent to their cell with nothing but a non aspirin and a cussing. If security can present me with a reason for their concern, such as the pt. being extorted in some way, like sexually...then it gives me grounds to question him as to maybe him being forced to participate in sexual favors or such, and also due to security reasons maybe check him for self inflicted injury...on our unit, we have several EMT's and they frequently try to run the medical end of things, usually my reply is, "And you got your degree where?" That usually takes care of it. I try not to make anyone angry...but you have to hold your ground. Example of officer saying during inservice that he thought that most of the offenders that threaten to beat someones face off are usually bluffing and just working the system...I spoke up and said, "since you want to do the diagnosing...next time we will send you to see if he means what he says." Now that officer sends the I/M for medical to assess.

Basic Life Support. The Tax Money That Is Issued To The State Prisons Is For The Offenders Only. I Agree With Whoever Stated That There Be A Doc On The Unit Who You Can Work Under Is Another Issue. We Have Protocols To Cover Us With The Inmates, But You Are Practicing Medicine When It Comes To An Officer Or Other Co Worker. Bls...unless Life Threatening And You Have ACLS Certification And Administration That Backs You.

My Husband And I Are Members Of The Afscme Union , He Is A Correctional Officer And Me A Nurse...the Union Lobbies Against The Privatization Of Prisons Due To The Decreased Quality Of Personel. The Requirements Are Not What State Requires...we Work Under Standards That Are Set By The American Correctional Association...and The Safe Prisons Act. Better For Officers, Nurses And Offenders. (or That Is My Opinion) Never Worked Private Prison.

I am from Texas, I work in a 1300 bed minimum/medium security state prison. I am a Chronic and infectuous disease nurse.I love my work...and have found it quite rewarding in many ways. I have been a nurse for 25 years, and have seen alot of things in prison nursing that I never saw in the free world. SOme of the sickest people I have ever met have been here. ALot of it a result of life style...alot of it from self neglect secondary to that life style. I now understand the ong term effects of sexual and physical abuse of people...something I have never seen before. In the free world you see the children it is occuring to, but it prison you see what is left after they have grown. Many crimes are the result of that abuse and it's long term effects on the psychy. But I love it!!