shell911rn

Nurses often forget or feel uncomfortable "telling" on physicians to their supervisor or chain of command when the physician doesn't give an order for something, but we have to remember we are patient advocates. This is a very important part of our j...

We haven't been able to get the H1N1 vaccine for employees or our inmates. I can't even get it at my healthcare provider yet because they have run out of the vaccine and are only giving it to children six and under, pregnant women, and/or caregivers ...

Yes, state employees should have first dibs on OT before contract nurses as per our union contract. A contract nurse may be able to do OT if no one else signs up for OT and it has been offered to state employees who do not want the OT. I can recall...

Practicing nursing in corrections does not mean you stop practicing the art of caring, an essential component of our practice. We do have to distance ourselves more and probably should do this in other settings as well so that we can be therapeutic a...

Well, first off, "mandated furlough days" is true, but, you have to apply to take the furlough days through scheduling. In other words, you aren't taking 3 mandated furlough days a month (your salary has been adjusted to the 3 furlough days every mo...

1. Can you explain how you know once an inmate trusts you. What signs and behaviors of trust are most common? The more questions an inmate asks you and the more they relax and share with you about what they are feeling or experiencing is usually...

1. Using the common nursing stereotypes (battle ax, angel of mercy, etc) describe your relationship with inmates. I think inmates tend to view female nurses as sexual objects who they can manipulate to do their bidding. I have heard an inmate or two...

This is a very difficult situation to be in. I witnessed a CO verbally abusing an inmate and finally had to step in and say "Okay...I think that was enough." It was difficult to do, but in my heart I knew it was the right thing to do seeing as how ...

In the prison I work in, we are identified by our last name, not our first name. So we answer the phone or are called "RN Jones" instead of "RN Sally" by other staff and inmates. I think this creates a more formal situation and understanding of autho...

To be a young female RN in this field working with male (and female prisoners, too) is to be open to cat-calls and being stared down like a piece of meat. And sometimes your ears are party to conversations that will disgust you. Young female RN's (an...

Correctional nursing can sometimes feel like you are . You are stuck in the middle between custody, inmates, nursing administration, and medical doctors and it feels like the only person who is on your side is, well, YOU. I even had another NURSE g...

Review how you will respond to emergencies. Don't let all your answers be "Refer inmate to RN or MD." If it is a medical emergency and you are first on scene, you will be required to act until a higher level of medical/nursing authority arrives. Alwa...

Another thing I forgot to add to my previous post is my recommendation to purchase Dickie workpants with a belt. The belt is useful for hooking your personal alarm and key chain with CPR face shield and medical keys to so that you don't have everyth...

Hello, I'd recommend buying a pair of tennis shoes (not Crocs or slip-ons) because you just never know when you may need to run towards something (a mandown, etc) or away from something (a fight, riot, etc). You can not wear jeans and blue or o...

I'm curious as to how custody relates with medical in prisons and jails around the country. At the prison I work at in CA, we have a love/hate relationship. I wish it was better, but most days, it seems we are at odds with each other. Custody rule...

Sheri, We're having to do 7219's mostly not because of an injury or incident, but because ANY inmate who goes in to the Ad/Seg unit, has to have a pre-ad seg 7219 done. We are locking up SNY's in Ad/Seg b/c we don't have room in the SNY yards/h...

Good luck Henryswife! We definitely need nurses. You will have a leg up working in a correctional facility as far as the games the inmates play. Just remember that when you get your nursing license and start in a correctional facility, you are beh...

I should clarify that I do help custody out quite a bit. Whenever there is an inmate that they feel needs to be seen by medical, I don't question them and stop what I'm doing to see the inmate. I'm just not so willing to stop what I'm doing to do a...

Hey Sheri, A memo went out at my institution recently that said we are to call 911 in cases of cardiac/respiratory arrest and have the inmate transferred directly from the site of arrest to an outside facility. Thus, we would wait for paramedics to a...

What a nightmare! I hope you had enough help to manage it all. Interesting that they OD'ed on it...either it they did it intentionally or they weren't aware of/or were mislead as to the concentration of the Heroin (i.e. murder)...Will be an interes...

Sheri, I couldn't have characterized the role of the RN with CDCR medical any better. You hit it on the head. The RN is the go to person whether you are in charge or not. The reigning opinion seems to be if we're making all that money, we should be a...

JailRN, Sounds like whoever was putting the show together didn't have an idea of what they would be dealing with and how to plan for what they might be dealing with in terms of emergencies. It's more disappointing to me at my workplace that the...

Initially, what made me want to be a correctional nurse was a change of scenery. I didn't want to work in a hospital anymore, but I needed a job that paid me as well as the private hospital, and with good benefits. That's what brought me to the state...

Sounds like you work at a place that is run much better than mine, JailRN. Custody drives me batty by being passive aggressive. I'll request that they take an inmate back to a housing unit or bring me an inmate and they will do it when they feel like...

JailRN, I couldn't agree with you more about the home health experience...Correctional facilities aren't going to stock you with all the supplies and the newest contraptions you would find in a private hospital to make your job easier...Administ...