Findingmynitch

I know these two medications are very similar with one being in tablet form vs the other being a capsule. Would it be a medication error if you gave one when the other is ordered?

What is the physical test like?

More recently, I have been working in a psych facility and have to agree that ammonia inhalants come in mighty handy there.

Thank you for the information. It will be helpful should I decide to reenter the correctional arena in nursing.

I probably should not have generalized across all of correctional nursing. That was my mistake, and I do apologize for it. It was my experience in the facility in which I worked at about 3 years ago. I have read that it is often a problem in correctional nursing. Unfortunately, I do not feel at liberty to give the details of my experience without compromising my anonymity.

It is nice to know such places in corrections exist.

That is unfortunate. I had heard better. Would you mind expanding on the issues or your experiences there? I don't like giving misinformation.

At this facility, there is no protocol for having a chaperon during an exam unless the inmate is deemed to be dangerous. I am a female nurse. These exams/care occur all of the time, particularly with wound care. In this case, I was about to get started on wound care, and the inmate asked if the officer had to be in the room. This inmate had always been exceptionally polite and appropriate. I made the request to the officer because I didn't see why I should be treating him differently on that day compared to any other day when his status within the facility had not changed.

I have become a real fan of the ammonia inhalants. However, I am a bit intrigued by using an NPA to "protect the airway". Could that be considered battery?!? Inquiring minds wanna know!!

Once upon a time, I was about to do wound care on a patient's groin. It required him being disrobed from the waist down. I had completed his wound care frequently over an extended period of time. Each time I did his wound care, I was alone in my office with him with a privacy screen up and an officer within ear shot. On this occasion, I politely told the officer who was standing in my office with the inmate,"Unless you HAVE to be in here, I am going to ask you to stand outside the room because I need him to disrobe from the waist down." The officer stepped out of the room, and I put up the privacy screen. However, later that shift while I was going to the pods to do my fingerstick run, I was HIT by one of the doors; hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to bruise (still assault and battery). My question for you is, was I out of line by protecting this inmates privacy? The officer was still standing just outside of the privacy screen. It was not unusual for custody to not open the doors, leave me standing in Sally ports or outside the facility for extended periods of time whenever I had unintentionally offended them.

I absolutely feel as though working in corrections puts one's license at risk in that many correctional nurses are encouraged to work outside of their scope of practice. Fortunately, I have worked with some very competent providers.

I have worked at one of the facilities in Tucson you are curious about and know nurses who work at the others. Correctional nursing is definitely a change. I feel good about the work I have done. From my experience and knowledge, I would highly recommend the Federal Bureau of Prisons off of Wilmot. Unfortunately, I do not feel at liberty to give my reasons for this. Best of luck to you.

Although our facility has a "chest pain" protocol, it reads as though we treat all chest pain as though it is cardiac. If I tried to follow the protocol to the letter, there would be negative consequences. Our protocol was written to protect the organization. It really does not guide the nurse. I wanted to thank all of you for your responses. I learned a great deal from all of them and feel much more confident when faced with chest pain in corrections.

I have over 10 years of nursing experience. I have worked in a county jail about 2 years, but I was full time for a fraction of that. The facility and its preexisting culture often determine your experience. Can you fit in there? I can confidently say the facility I worked in was hands down, the most hostile work environment I had ever seen. I have never had a problem with the inmates, and I feel as though I had made a difference to many of them. Custody was not a fan of mine. I had false reports made about me. One time, they kept me in each of the Sally ports for 5-10 minutes. Another time, I was hit by a door that slammed shut on me; that's assault and battery! As for the nurses, they were all excellent clinicians, but they routinely worked outside their scope of practice. Although nursing is known for being a backstabbing profession, the nurses at this facility excelled more than any others I have encountered prior. I left work and cried more times than I could possibly count. I could go on and on about my negative experiences, but they do not matter. Money is not everything. Although it may be difficult to find a pleasant work environment, I am sure you can find one which is tolerable for one year. My concerns for you as a new nurse in corrections is that 1) there is absolutely a stigma when you have worked in this area (the longer you work in it, the worse the stigma), 2) you are not getting a good chance to cement your skills in this setting and 3) you are probably learning some bad habits. Correctional nurses are often taught to work outside there scope of practice. My recommendations would include the following: *If you can stand it, stick it out to six months because it will look better. Six months of experience is still better than none even if it is at a correctional facility. However, I would not stay a day past six months. Oh, make sure you use any accumulated PTO in those last two months . *Get another job before you officially resign from the prison. When you apply for another job, tell the prospective employer that corrections just was not a good fit, but you learned and grew from the experience. Try to focus on what you learned by working with that unique population (for example, experience with the mentally ill, working with difficult patients, learning to be more understanding). You have gained plenty of experience from this exposure. Never bad mouth an old employer to a new potential employer. Also, I would tell them you were concerned you were not able to reinforce the skills you had learned in nursing school in that position. *I would rather not work LTC as well, but it is a cross you may have to bare. It may not pay as much, but the question is, can you tolerate it for one year in order to get your necessary experience. Also, before accepting a job at a LTC facility, I would inquire about whether you could shadow a nurse in their facility for a day before accepting the job. I have seen some LTC facilities where I would not leave my dog. Good luck. If I can be of any assistance, you are welcome to private message me.

I took the CCHP exam about 14 months ago. I only ended up studying the adult jail and juvenile books, and I passed the test. The jail and prison standards are close enough that you do not really need to know both. If I had to do it again, I would study just those two books. However, the thicker book, Correctional Healthcare: Guidelines for Management of an Adequate Delivery System, has some great information, but only a couple of questions come only from it.