RN Rover

with all due respect to jason880--- I am not referring to the scenario where you walk in on a patient and accidently find him masturbating or 'surprise' them. What I am referring to is when a male inmate in a state prison purposely exposes his genitalia to a female staff member for the purpose of his own sexual gratification and without the consent of the staff member he exposes to. This is called 'indecent exposure' and is a crime in all states, which includes hospitals, and when successfully prosecuted is punishable with prison time. There is no violation of HIPAA when a victim of a crime reports her assailant. Please understand that being a victim of a sexual predator is not part of my job description or any other nurses' job description.

I don't know the official answer to question of CDCR or particular prison still hiring new grads. I believe they do, haven't heard anything to the contrary. When I got hired 6 months ago there were four others hired at same time and I think one of them was a new grad or pretty close to new grad

I applied to CDCR for RN position at Northern CA prison last February. I interviewed at end of March, got a job offer in June and didn't start as state employee until August 12. It takes a long time!!! hang in there though, sounds like you are moving along in right direction. Good luck. Ask me anything, I'm willing to share if I have info you can use.

where I work there is a whole 'IE' protocol (indecent exposure). Some years ago a couple of female officers filed a law suit against the state over inmates constantly exposing themselves. Outcome of that was very clear guidelines and consequences for inmates when exposure takes place. First offense they get put on "lexan' precautions which means their windows are covered up and whenever a nurse has to see the inmate, and officer must be with her and pull the window cover aside to look in and see if the inmate is decent. Second offense gets lexan precautions for six months and the inmate has to wear and "IE" suit whenever out of his cell. It's a jumpsuit they lock on so inmate cant get to his junk. The suit looks real silly and all the other inmates know what that guy is about when they see someone in it. They also get charged for the crime and time added to sentence if convicted. We still get guys exposing themselves, but I hear that the incidents have decreased dramatically since program was initiated. We are required to report to custody and fill out an incident report whenever we this happens. They don't consider it a convictable crime though unless you actually see the whole member and they always ask details. It's kind of humiliating when you the Sargent makes you re-write your statement to include and that you saw he was aroused and then insists you document how that made you feel, but at least they take it seriously. I've had only 2 IE incidents in 14 months at this particular facility. We had an inmate who is chronically exposing himself to female staff and he just caught another 10 years for the crime I heard from an officer. They aren't messing around where I work.

So how did it go? Had I seen your post sooner I would have recommended going in there with confidence (fake it till you make it my mom used to tell me). I basically went into corrections as a new grad, had some experience like you. I started in a state prison as a registry nurse. I believe what eventually got me the job was my genuine interest in corrections as a specialty of choice and my ability to get along with co workers and treat the inmate - patients always following the fair, firm, consistent rule. I'm in a maximum security prison and there are a lot of psych patients as well as medical. I've had a full time state job for 6 months now and I love it. Been a nurse for 3.5 years now and this is my first full time permanent job. Never give up is my advice, be tenacious and go after what you want. I'm emergency responder for a prison that has over 3,000 inmates now and each day is different and unpredictable. In corrections you have to be flexible while always doing every thing the same, does that make sense? the nursing is easy, it's the paper work and charting that takes some time and patience to get right. Whatever happens, good luck and keep us posted please,

I also work in the infirmiry, but evening shift 2-10 pm. My shift is similar to above poster: get through security gates, chit out keys, chit out shank vest, get report, count narcotics, check orders paying special attention to medication orders, check in on my patients- anywhere from 2-8 inmate/patients with an average of 4-5. We have mental health crisis beds so are usually assigned to either medical or psych, but sometimes get a couple of each. I then do physical or visual/verbal assessments. If I have psych patients they are on hourly behavior checks or q 15 min suicide watch, maybe even have a guy in restraints. I chart, do medication pass, chat, administer treatments like dressing changes, chart some more, chat some more, maybe get a couple of admits or might have a discharge at beginning of shift. In between all this I'm answering the phone, taking call offs from other nurses, working on endless staff development educational requirments, filling out refusal forms, calling the on call MD or psychiatrist and putting in phone orders, pulling medications from night locker for nurses in other parts of facility. At the end of shift there is a change of shift form we have to fill out, lastly I count narcs and sharps, return keys and vest and report off to oncoming RN. We also have a lot of potlucks!

update: I got an assignment at Pelican Bay State Prison and have been working there as a registry nurse since April (almost 7 months now). I LOVE it!! The only bad part about the experience is that my agency is awful and never pays me on time. I have filed a complaint with Dept of Labor and have a hearing pending. They are currently three weeks late on my pay! it's really unbelievable. Beware what agencies you choose to work. Despite the problem with agency, I'm glad for this experience and wouldn't have made a different decision even if I had known that this agency was rotten. I hope to land a state job in corrections as soon as this hiring freeze ends.

I just started in corrections, I'm working in a CA state prison through agency and I love it. I am not exactly a new grad, having had my nursing license for nearly two years already. I spent the first year out of school either taking care of a family member who was dying of cancer at home, or taking care of other oncology patients as a private hire home hospice nurse. I had a very difficult time finding any sort of nursing position my second year as a nurse and was unemployed for over 9 months! My experience in home health did not seem to count which translated into neither a new grad nor a nurse with experience. So I was ecstatic and relieved to finally get offered a contract position in corrections. For me it's working out because there are other nurses on shift with me who are willing to answer questions and guide me. Security training was a day and I've been 'orienting' for the last two weeks which means another nurse is assigned to train me that shift. I will get two weeks of "staff development" in a couple of weeks, this will mostly be about using the electronic medical record I'm told. Though my nursing experience is limited, my peers at this facility seem very impressed with my computer and charting skills and my willingness to jump in feet first and just give it my all. Corrections is not for the faint of heart and I think it takes a certain kind of nurse who can be flexible and autonomous and learn very quickly in a rapidly changing environment. So for me, having never worked in a hospital or clinical environment, it's turning out to be a good start. It's easy to say that we all need 1-2 yrs in med/surg before we're ready for specialties, but the reality is that those jobs aren't available, so take what you can get and do your very best. Maybe you'll find it suits you like I found, if not, at least you've made a little money and gotten a bit of experience and are better prepared for the next assignment.

I've been a licensed RN for 18 months now. Though I've been unable to land any clinical positions, I have been nursing most of the time either for family doing hospice and palliative care at home, or as a private hire home health nurse for oncology patients. So my experience is limited, but I have used a lot of my nursing skills during this time and do have some confidence in my nursing skills. I have my heart set on corrections. My mother was a corrections RN (she passed 20 years ago, so I cannot go to her for advice). I have been trying to land a job in California Dept of Corrections since I graduated, sent out a dozen apps and no responses, no interviews yet. So I signed up with an agency that specializes in corrections and looks like I might have an assignment at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga coming up. I am very excited and also a bit nervous. Any advice, words of encouragement, warnings, comments from you all are welcome. I've read a lot of the threads in this forum already and have some idea of what to expect. I'm especially interested to learn what I can do to best prepare myself for this assignment, everything from what to wear to what to study and brush up on before I begin. I love this forum and really appreciate every bit of information I find here. Thanks! Sugaree

I just had my first phone interview for a RN preceptorship position on a med-surg unit at a small hospital in Alaska. The interview was a conference call with the DON the unit manager and the preceptor. They asked me typical iterview questions like 'what do you hope to get out of a preceptorship'. 'What are your future nursing goals'. 'What does honesty mean to you in terms of patients, other nurses and managers'. 'What do you have to offer the unit as a nurse?' There were scenario questions also like 'Ms. B has been hitting the call button all day complaining of pain and all the nurses are ignoring her, as you walk by she hits the call light again, what do you do?'. And 'The family of a recently discharged patient is upset and feels patient did not receive adequate care, they are yelling at you and call you names, how do you respond?' At the end of the interview they asked me if I had questions, I asked a few, then they asked when I could start and said HR would call me next week and also explained the terms of the preceptorship. The phone call was between 30 and 40 minutes I think.