Questions about working as an agency nurse in a correctional job

[felixthecat99]

I  have a bad back. Lots of nursing experience-LPN. The job I have now(assisted living)is telling us nurses  that we are going to be assigned to our own residents in addition to being the pill nurse.  Some of our residents are  very heavy and dead weight and really shouldn't be in an assisted living facility. I wish I had a good back but I don't. I am thinking that if I work as an agency nurse as a "correctional pill nurse" that I won't be required to do "heavy lifting" as I am assuming the correctional officers will do the "heavy lifting" for me. Am I correct? Or will I be expected to do "heavy lifting" and also be the "correctional pill nurse". I am also interested in learning what it is like to be a correctional pill nurse. Thanks for any suggestions and advice.

[PsychNurse24, BSN, RN]

Are you currently an LPN or an RN?  As an LPN maybe you’ll be passing a lot of medications. I am not a correctional Nurse but did apply for a job there once and received an extensive tour and also attended a weekly public health meeting with a correctional Nurse.  She said the RNs spent a lot of time doing detailed assessments on new admits, assessing and evaluating people who didn’t feel well, and patient education.  She loved the job. 
 

You also might want to consider psychiatric Nursing.  In over a decade I have done little to no lifting. On the rare occasions where we have to restrain, there are a lot of other employees there to help, so it is not physically demanding.

Good luck!