Crawsu

Medical is never involved in body cavity searches. We will draw blood with the patients permission for court ordered blood draws, but only with patient's consent.

Don't neglect to check out city and county jails. Ours pay higher than state jobs and have better benefits. It all depends on where you are. Good luck!

I honestly don't think anyone should attempt corrections without at least a year of hospital nursing under your belt. Inmates are master manipulators, as are many patients in the hospital, but you need to have some experience. I really hated hospital nursing, but I learned a lot there that has served me well. I don't think my nursing judgement would be as good as it is without that experience. You will be responsible for making decisions that will impact your patients lives:do you feel prepared for that? Corrections is a great field, but my opinion is that you need good assessment skills and a broad knowoledge base to be a good correctional nurse. Do a year or more in the hospital and you will be ready to try it.

I used to work 10 hour shifts and loved it. Get that extra day off a week, but not so tired you can't get much done. I find that my first day off after 3 12's is pretty much a throw away day as I'm so tired I don't get much done. Loved 10 hours, but not practical for management. Better for the staff, though.

It is sooo not realistic. The first season wasn't bad, but it has gotten sillier every year. I mean, really, if there are inmates who have been involved n fights etc, they would never be housed in the same pod. Surgery in the facility? I don't think so. Transfusions,not likely. A staff member assaulted and then allowed to work in the same facility, puleeze...it's a fantasy The staff is so involved with the inmates on a personal level, it is an example of what NOT to do if you work in corrections. Females housed in the same area as males? It's just stupid. Still, I do feel compelled to watch it, even though it's pure BS. :imbar

I don't know how long you've been in corrections, but I'm going on 10 years and I have been spat on once, by a psych patient. I was assaulted more than once in hospital nursing and feel much safer working in correctional nursing. For the most part, the inmates treat the nurses with respect as thay know we are there to get them health care if that is what they need. I have even had other inmates reprimand a fellow inmate who is disrespectful to the nurse. And I and other nurses on my unit have been thanked by inmates who were helped by virtue of being incarcerated and getting medical care they would not have gotten on the outside. Granted, I work in a jail setting, so our inmates are usually not long termers with nothing to lose. I suppose that dealing with lifers might be a bit more dangerous. Still, I have never felt threatened in this setting, and there were times in the hospital that I didn't feel as safe as I do in the correctional environment.

Oh yes, the "smelling salts" work every time. You have to hold it there long enough though. The really saavy fakers know to hold their breath and breathe through the mouth. I had one, "seizure" who actually knocked the ammonia ampule out of my hand. Then said,"I'm not having a seizure, Bi***!" I documented every word, too. Every "medical" problem at our facility is a "seizure". We are called so many times for "seizures" that are nothing but a bid for a lower bunk or time off from work. How many "seizures" are you called to respond to that are actually seizures? I think the deputies think that any tremor or twitch constitutes a seizure. The best one was a frequent flyer that was having a" seizure" and when we responded, I asked the pt., "Are you having a seizure?" She stopped convulsing, looked me dead in the eye, and said,"Yes, I have emotional seizures.." and I replied, "I understand that that is a very unusual condition" We rushed her to the infirmary and with a liter of gatorade and no TV she was miracuously cured!! The challange is in maintaining your objective data gathering. For every 10 fakes, there is that one acute abdomen, or a real MI, you can't be too careful... CYA!!! That is the correctionalnurses creed! :rotfl:

We have 3 night nurses for about 2000 inmates. We prepour meds for lock down units, but every inmate must show his/her picture ID with name for meds. You have to be careful and check ID"S. Many will take meds if offered even if not prescribed. Who knows why? My facility still offers tylenol and ASA if requested. I don't like the policy, but it is in place, and inmates do not want to hear about health risks for OTC meds, they want anything that's free and will give them time out of the unit. Many are looking for any excuse to sue the state or county, and will do whatever it takes to find grounds for a suit. We usually have 4 nurses scheduled for day shift, and that includes sick call, treatments, and med passes. I think that 4 on nights would be a luxury, wish we had such great staffing. We are accredited by NCCHC. Make sure that your prospective employer is as well, it will decrease the risk of litigation.

I agree... In corrections you need to be able to think on your feet and react wisely to situations that may arise. In most settings there will be protocols or standing orders that allow more independent practice. If you present yourself as inquisitive and wanting to learn, you'll cinch the job. Corrections presents you with a lot of different situations that will challenge your critical thinking skills, and always there will be opportunities to learn more about a range of medical and psych problems. Speaking of psych, play up any experience with psych as most of your patients will have need for it. Jails are the new psych hospitals. at least it seems that way. Good luck, hope you find this a rewarding field. I think that you may find that as an LPN you will still be able to function fairly independantly and if that is what you are looking for then corrections will offer the greatest opportunities. I was going to tell you about the great LPNs that I work with, but won't go into that here. Suffice it to say that you may find that you are more appreciated in the corrections setting than in the hospital setting. You will be judged on your actions and not on your degree in nursing.

Well, for starters, I would make sure all officers are educated as far as infectious diseases go. The most recent info on Hepatitis A B C and the risks and so forth, also diabetic education for officers, also the latest info on TB and not to freak out every time an inmate has a positive PPD, so many have come from other countries where they have gotten the vaccine. For your nurses, if you have good protocols in place, then they will be able to refer to those for most situations. A good orientation to the facility, hopefully involving the officers to orient the nurse to what is contraband and how it can be used to fashion weapons, etc... emergency response for unusual situations, what is the chain of command, what situations might the nurse encounter where securing the area would take precedence over medical care. Hopefully something he/she won't ever have to use, but should know. Things like, does medical remove piercings on the inmate? Does medical do cavity searches? Does medical remove Tasers? All those things that come up when there is no one there except the nurse. Good for you for getting the position authorized and hope you can use it to promote education of all the staff.

Good Luck! Hope you enjoy Corrections. It's been great for me, and hope it will be for you as well. Keep us posted on your progress. :balloons:

Well, I work in corrections at the jail and the parameters are very clear. No relationships with inmates whatsoever. You have a choice between your job and pursuing a relationship with the inmate. You choose either. I don't know how this would apply to hospital nursing, but it seems a bad idea, either way. Many inmates can appear very charming on the surface, but don't believe everything they tell you, because many are sociopaths and adept at manipulating both people and the system Sorry to say that this is just a fact when dealing with most offenders. If a friend or relative is incarcerated it is your duty to notify the dept. so that your contact is minimized at best. Best of luck to you whatever decision you make. Just be warned that most are master manipulators. Remember Ted Bundy, he had all his friends fooled, and went on to commit many heinous crimes. I would advise against it.

He probably had court ordered meds as a part of the parole agreement. Otherwise, inmates have the same rights as anyone else, and probably more so because of the threat of litigation. Anyone can refuse meds or treatment, and if you force it on them it is a crime, assault and battery, if I remember right. Inmate or otherwise. Get a signed refusal and document, document, document. If it's not written, it wasn't done. CYA...

He probably had court ordered meds as a part of the parole agreement. Otherwise, inmates have the same rights as anyone else, and probably more so because of the threat of litigation. Anyone can refuse meds or treatment, and if you force it on them it is a crime, assault and battery, if I remember right. Inmate or otherwise. Get a signed refusal and document, document, document. If it's not written, it wasn't done. CYA...

We only dispense methadone to pts that are current in their program on the outside. Currently we have only 14 people on it. The clinic brings out the doses and the Dr.'s orders with it. It has to be locked in a safe, seperate from everything else. The clinic has to verify all the particulars, we just dispense it. Of course, almost every junkie that comes in tries to tell you they are on it, some have been in the past, but not currently. One guy came in and told me he'd been in the methadone program, but it was too expensive, so he went back to heroin. When I asked him what it cost for both, it worked out that the methadone was cheaper. However, he said he was a musician and that the methadone stifled his creative energy. Go figure... :chuckle