BSNinTX

Yes! As a nurse manager, I now hand a copy to my new nurses to read through as they move through orientation. It is an excellent resource and will help you get up to speed as well as learn national best practices...which may not always be what you learn from your employer and peers. It is an easy read and packed with good info and questions to think about. As others have noted, NCCHC and ACA are great resources. The NCCHC conferences are always fantastic and have content for new and experienced nurses.

Thanks everyone.

I have heard that LPNs licensed in PA cannot give meds without an RN present. Any truth to this? Anyone know where exactly to find support or refuting information in the practice act?

I've sent you a PM. Hopefully, you can then reply. You should get a note in your email as well.

No, I was 'paroled' to Immigration more than a year ago. Shoot me a PM and I will give you the skinny.

STG provides contract employees for the Immigration detention center I work at, as well as all the other ICE detention centers. I have heard from their staff that they pay well, but that the medical insurance costs a lot. They may also staff more traditional correctional facilities, but I cannot say that for certain. ICE detention tends to be safer, more sedate than traditional correctional facilities, but some places have more criminal aliens and can be difficult.

71 responses so far. Just a few days of data collection left. Can you help me get over 100 respondants?

One more week of data collection to go. If you have not already done so, I implore every corrections nurse to take this survey. Help shape the recruitment of nurses into our specialty. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMSF2QD

The Chief Nurse for the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been gracious enough to distribute this survey to that agency's nurses. I would love to see a lot more state prison nurses and jail nurses participate in this survey so the federal presence doens't skey the results. Please consider participating if you have not already done so. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMSF2QD

I would like to make the results available, yes. I may be able to post preliminary information. The long range plan is to attempt to publish the results in one of the NCCHC journals or the ACA health care journal.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the survey. More, please!

Sixteen responses so far! Come on prison and jail nurses, pitch in to help our specialty. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMSF2QD

Money: Friends, family, criminal activity, inmate jobs. In many cases, though, inmates write the suit themselves and can file it for little or no cost based on laws designed to protect the ability of inmates to file suits for their own protection against cruel and unusual punishment, i.e., violations of their rights or related to the condition of their confinement. As for credibility, yes and no. In some cases, correctional systems will try to settle the cases so that they do not have to spend the time and money to fight them. The inmate will get a little money, or will have some kind of injuctive relief, while the nurse is stuck with a judgement against them. The correctional system makes a problem go away but the nurse is stuck forever with this stain on their record.

One thing that is special to corrections is the concept of deliberate indifference. This is different from malpractice or negligence and is often claimed by inmates. In addition, inmates have a lot of time on their hands and sometimes use that to sue staff, including nurses. Sometimes its because they think they have a real claim, sometimes it is just to make life difficult for the administration. Another factor is that in corrections, your patients have not chosen you as their caregiver and have no other options. Thus, if there is not a provider-client relationship as in other settings. Rather, there is an adverserial relationship between nurses and inmates. Now, that may not be pronounced or even the overall vibe of the relationship, but that tension is always underlying.

Thanks for those who have responded to this survey. I would love to see many more nurses participate and help shape the future of our specialty.:specs:

Hello all, I am a seven year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigration Health. I am also a graduate student working on finishing my MSN. My end of program project is a descriptive study of the correctional nursing workforce. I need nursing in the correctional specialty to participate in the survey. It will only take a few minutes and will, I hope, provide some data to help recruit and retain nurses in this area of practice. All responses are annonymous. Please take the survey and spread the word to your peers. I am hoping to get a big sample size from across the national and across facility types. If you can spread the word to your managers and to others in your area and your system, I would very much appreciate it. Data will be collected through the end of July, 2011. The link to the survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LMSF2QD

As a sub nurse, I actually see some value in this idea (though I wouldn't personally want it done for me). When the students find out there is a sub in your office, they all come out. The teachers need to have a handle on this, as they know their students and which are likely to be abusing the fact that there is a sub. I have had students come who are chronic visitors, but because I don't have the full background, it is difficult to make a proper disposition. I've even had teachers send students to me when their special ed plan specifically states that they are to be sent to their special ed person or counselor before the nurse. So, yes, I think it's appropriate for the teachers to know that there is a sub and to think carefully about which students need to go to the nurse. At the very least, I need to know some history on some kids, like the fact that Johnny has 'the worst headache of my life' everyday when it's time for math.

So, I am a substitute school nurse. When my daugher started K last year, my school nurse asked me to apply to be a sub Basically so she would have someone she could call. When she knows she needs to be out in advance, she calls me to coordinate a date. I can usually accommodate if I have enough time to make arrangements with my 'real' job's schedule. I have also just finished six months of preceptorship for my graduate degree with the head nurse of our district (who is also assigned a campus, the largest in the district). We discussed this issue at length. We have about a half-dozen subs on our list, severl of whom have only one, or a few, campuses that they will cover. For some, it is a matter of distance; for $90 a day, I would think twice about driving 30 miles each way to sub, too. For me, when I sub, it has nothing to do with the money (although that is a little bonus) but rather my personal desire not to see a campus without a nurse if it can be avoided. Many schools place a para in the office in the absence of the nurse. Sometimes it is because no nurse is available. Sometimes it is because the principal has decided that a sub nurse is not needed. In either case, the person covering the office is acting as an agent of the principal rather than having been delegated by the nurse. That needs to be clear in case of liability. Ultimately, one of the major reasons (in my district, at least) that it is hard to get sub nurses in the office is basic ol' money. At $11.25 an hour, it's hard to get someone in.

Each program has a clinical requirement. The education track has a single clinical course which requires 180 hours of clinical. The administration track has two clinical courses, one with 80 hours and another with 100 hours. You have a lot of flexibility in selecting a preceptor and clinical site, so you can tailor it to meet your needs and interests. I never felt like Aspen took up my life. I was busy with school, but it was doable. Clinical was very busy, but that was because I work full-time and was in clinical 8 to 12 hours per week. But, it was just for a short time (20 weeks total for my two clinical courses); I can do anything for a little while if I have to! I believe there are supposed to be two proctored exams in the program - one at midpoint and one at the end, though I have not taken any. My understanding is that you use a proctor site such as a college testing center or an approved proctor. I don't remember the admission process being lengthy, but I applied in 2007 and things may be different. I remember filling out a brief form, writing a goals statement, having three people write reference letters, and getting transcripts sent to the school. NO GRE required, which is nice. From what I remember, the process was extremely fast. If I can be of any help, let me know. I am a big proponent of Aspen.

CPS is one option. If your school has a truancy officer, they may be of assistance - we've done that before with good results.

How about sending the kid to school with a homemade 'cast.' As in, a sock wrapped in duct tape. Had that recently.

Would the degree alone do it? Well, yes, but it may not get you where you want. Most people in middle and upper management have a combination of experience, education, and credentials. Any degree by itself is only likely to get you an entry-level job. A degree is a piece to the puzzle, but it is not the only one. As for online versus not, I think that most people today realize that online learning is a valuable and valid option. Would an online degree from Johns Hopkins or MIT be viewed as less valuable than a degree earned on campus at the local state U?Of course, it depends on one's plans and circumstances. There are still many places where one can only get hired into good positions if they went to XYZ university, which happens to be the local favorite, or the boss's alma matter, or whatever.

It is writing intense, to a degree. Each course has 8 modules, with 10 weeks to complete. So, one module per week with a little slack built in. Each module typically has about 5 short answer questions for which they suggest 250 words or more is sufficient and a few major questions for which they suggest a longer response is required. For me, this has been laid back. My MBA program was 50+ pages per course, single spaced typed papers. THAT was writing intense.

For the clinical, about 15 hours per week (including 'homework'). For the strictly academic classes, about 5 hours per week...but I am a fast reader, already familiar with much of the material from my MBA and I write very quickly as well so I am not necessarily the best example. It is very doable, though.

I think in the case of a SWAT team, there is not so much of a conflict. The medical staff are not part of the team, but rather an auxiliary. In addition, they have an ongoing relationship with the team but not the criminals they interact with. Thus, the potential for conflict is reduced. Just my first pass thoughts on it.