Safety in the facility

texascowgirl · Jul 21, 2006

feel safer than working any city ED or in any psych facility.

only time i have been attacked was in GA cuz the officers are wimpy and the inmates have too many rights...in Texas, it's the old adage "DONT MESS WITH TEXAS" and they MEAN IT

Im a nursing student and I'd like to go into correctional nursing however I am alittle nervous at the thought. How safe do all of you feel on a daily basis? Have any of you ever been attacked?

BSNinTX · Jul 21, 2006

Do you work in TDCJ? If so, for UTMB?

feel safer than working any city ED or in any psych facility.
only time i have been attacked was in GA cuz the officers are wimpy and the inmates have too many rights...in Texas, it's the old adage "DONT MESS WITH TEXAS" and they MEAN IT

texascowgirl · Jul 21, 2006

negative-still stuck in GA..but fixin' to move back to Texas in the next few months and have been talking to TDCJ units-both the ones in the West, managed by Texas Tech, and the ones in the East managed by UTMB. You?

p.s. I worked for privatized prisons in Texas, and here in GA, for the State Penitentiary and several max security prisons as an independent contractor

Do you work in TDCJ? If so, for UTMB?

specialpatient2 · Jul 25, 2006

I wish there were more responses to this question, because I am seriously considering applying for a correctional nurse position at a nearby prison. I have no idea what it could be like to be a nurse in a prison. I wonder things like: are the inmates handcuffed when you treat them? are you alone in a room with them, or is there a guard with you? what about the inmates that are extremely hostile, and will do anything for agression, like spit in your face? Let's face it, these inmates are dangerous, so how safe is the nurse treating them?

BSNinTX · Jul 27, 2006

The answer to many of these questions is: depends. These things depend a great deal on the facility you are at. Some always have a correctional officer with the inmate, others rarely do. Handcuffing is tricky, becuase it really limits your assessment and treatment. Some inmates, especially in jails, are violent/aggressive/spit/etc. You need to look into all these things individually at the place you might work.

I feel much safer in prison nursing than any other place. I work federal, and I carry a radio and body alarm at all times. If I have trouble, I push my orange button and every available person runs like hell to come help me...I would never get any response like that in the hospital or clinics I've worked at. In those settings, "security" was usually an elderly man with no training, radio, phone, weapon, handcuffs, etc. I've had weapons brought into my civilian clinic and nothing done about it. That wouldn't happen in prison.

Look into the facility you are interested in. If applicable, ask to speak with someone from their correctional officer's union; they can give a lot of informaiton, though it may be somewhat slanted.

I wish there were more responses to this question, because I am seriously considering applying for a correctional nurse position at a nearby prison. I have no idea what it could be like to be a nurse in a prison. I wonder things like: are the inmates handcuffed when you treat them? are you alone in a room with them, or is there a guard with you? what about the inmates that are extremely hostile, and will do anything for agression, like spit in your face? Let's face it, these inmates are dangerous, so how safe is the nurse treating them?

NurseKittyAtlanta · Aug 8, 2006

I wish there were more responses to this question, because I am seriously considering applying for a correctional nurse position at a nearby prison. I have no idea what it could be like to be a nurse in a prison. I wonder things like: are the inmates handcuffed when you treat them? are you alone in a room with them, or is there a guard with you? what about the inmates that are extremely hostile, and will do anything for agression, like spit in your face? Let's face it, these inmates are dangerous, so how safe is the nurse treating them?

From my personal experience, an armed guard was always stationed at the nurses' station. And nurses were always accompanied by a guard when performing treatments and walking the halls. For treatments, the guard removed the inmate from their cell in handcuffs, and they remained handcuffed throughout the procedure, which was always videotaped. If the inmate was known to spit or bite, they would be required to wear a special hood over their head during their treatment. For the most part there were no problems with that ... misbehavior would lead to loss of privileges and generally inmates do not want that. The guard would then return the inmate to their cell, and then accompany the nurse back to the nurses' station.

banditrn · Aug 9, 2006

Im a nursing student and I'd like to go into correctional nursing however I am alittle nervous at the thought. How safe do all of you feel on a daily basis? Have any of you ever been attacked?

Kaiser - altho I've never worked in corrections, don't assume that working in a hospital or LTCF will be safe!! :uhoh3:

While I've never been injured badly, I've been pinched, slapped and bitten - just working in ICU. And when I worked in the psych unit, I never felt safe. And I've known a few nurses who have been really hurt by patients in a hospital.

camost · Aug 17, 2006

Hi. I'm an LPN in Oklahoma. I work at a private mens medium security facility in northwest Oklahoma. Today was only my 3rd day, so I'm still in class. From what I've seen and friends I have who work in corrections, I'm more likely to get injured on the drive to work than at work. I am constantly on camera. There is a CO posted in medical. We have 4 cells in medical and depending on the inmate, they might not be handcuffed when they are out of the cell. Our inmates come from out of state and Oklahoma restricts the type of offenders we can get. That makes it a bit easier.

My only concern is that all facility staff, even the laundry supervisor, get trained to be COs, even if they aren't going to work as one. The only exception to that rule is medical staff. We get the first week of the training, but it is mainly policy and procedures. We don't learn take down techniques or pressure points. We will get a radio with a "man down" button and there are panic buttons on the walls.

One thing that intrigues me is if there is an "event" (apparently you don't say the "r" or "e" words here) then all staff are called in, even if you only left 2 hours ago. So, theoretically, I could be working nights and be at home sleeping between shifts and if something went down, I would get called in early. I'm not upset about that, I mean, if it were me working when that happened, I'd sure want everyone up there.

I know that this soon into the job, when I haven't even made it to my post yet, I really can't know what the job is going to be like, but these are my observations so far.

BTW, I worked at a small town nursing home and we had another staff memeber come in after their shift ended, drunk and waving a gun, saying he was going to take care of all the nurses. I feel infinitely more safe in the prison.

fiestynurse · Sep 2, 2006

banditrn - what you said is so true. When you see bullet proof windows being put up in the emergency rooms to protect the staff - that's cause for concern. And my experience with hospital security has not been good - they are slow to respond and will not get too involved.

The thing about jails and prisons is you usually have trained correctional officers watching your back at all times either by direct supervision or indirect supervision (via cameras) The COs usually carry batons, pepper spray, tasers, or stun guns to subdue an inmate that acts out. You usually carry a radio or a panic button.

This is not to say that bad things do not occasionaly happen in these environments. I recommend that all correctional nurses take a self defense class, just in case they find themselves in a situation with an inmate and a CO is not around. I also recommend that the nurse's last names are covered on their badges. Some nurses also have an unlisted telephone number. There are other ways of protecting yourself, by not getting too friendly with inmates. A good book to read is "The Art of the Con: Avoiding Offender Manipulation" by Gary F. Cornelius.

Dianne6 · Sep 4, 2006

I agree with the others, all hospitals can be dangerous at times~