What are pros and cons (no pun intended) correctional nursing?

Specialties Correctional

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As I was looking over this site, I ran across this forum. I've worked as an LPN for 8 years and have gone back to school for my RN. I haven't had any first hand experience with this field.

What are some of the pros and cons?

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Specializes in CCU, LTC, ICU, Corrections.

I worked in corrections and for the most part I NEVER got bored with my job. A downside is the amount of lawsuits in this setting. I never realized how prevalent they were. It is a very exciting and rewarding field.

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Pros.

Pay, Pay, Pay, Super Easy, Pay, Pay, Pay.

Retirement cAN'T BE BEAT.

Can promote fairly quick, as the turnover is pretty high, or you can transfer to another prison in the middle of nowhere, promote, then return to the prison of your choice promoted over those who started before you.

Cons.

If you went to school because you care about people, its kind of difficult here.

If you do the nice extra things you would do on the outside, you get accused of having an inappropriate relationship, or even giving the inmate extra drugs. Also, do you really want to do something extra for a rapist or murderer, even if they are very nice to you?

I like doing the extra things,that i can't here.

Forced Mandatory Overtime, course that means more PAY!!!

Working with alot of staff that are the bottom of the barrel, both in clinical skills and humanity.

Bad days off, unless you have years in.

Poor choice of vacation days, unless you have years in.

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I know alot of people online say they love it.

i have worked in prisons, and i never met a person who loves it.

we love the pay.

simple question.

if the prison pay was less then what one could get outside, would they still work at a prison?

thats my "love it" test.

if you love something, you would do it even if you were payed poorly.

IF the prisons paid less than local hospitals, trust me, the prisons would have no staff, well except those who could not get hired at a hospital.

IF the pay was low, would they still work there, even though they "love it"?

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i've just started work at a private prison here in louisiana. Pro's are:

1) pay and yes it pays better than the hospital, and yes i love it, even if it did pay less. why?

no doctors, family members, other older nursing staff who loves to eat their young.

no poop to clean. no bed baths.

psych and med surg nursing at it's best.

Con's:

lost of nursing skills, not much learning opportunities. no foleys, iv sticks, ng tubes, chest tubes etc.

i take the good with the bad, and plan to work prn at the local er to keep my skills up, and get my rn.:redbeathe

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i've just started work at a private prison here in louisiana. Pro's are:

1) pay and yes it pays better than the hospital, and yes i love it, even if it did pay less. why?

no doctors, family members, other older nursing staff who loves to eat their young.

no poop to clean. no bed baths.

psych and med surg nursing at it's best.

Con's:

lost of nursing skills, not much learning opportunities. no foleys, iv sticks, ng tubes, chest tubes etc.

i take the good with the bad, and plan to work prn at the local er to keep my skills up, and get my rn.:redbeathe

I live in Louisiana and am about to start school- I really really really want to work in Substance Abuse and have heard that Corrections is a good place to start- do you do a lot of work with pts detoxing etc? just curious!

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Definitely the pay.

The facility I worked at paid DOUBLE that rate that the local hospital paid their RN's, and it was practically unlimited overtime.

It was also both easy and challenging. Routine was easy, assessing and treating urgent or emergencies was challenging. Being absolutely in control and assertive at all times when facing down an IM is tough. facing down the doc when the IM's BP is 70/30 and the Doc says he's faking is tough.

(IM stayed 7 more hours!!! :uhoh3: and BP got down to 50/20 before they sent him out)

Fortunately for me, there was good rapport between the CO's and the Medical and we didn't try to do each other's work. Of course the occasional turf battle, but it was mostly very good.

However, it is a very isolated world and I wouldn't want to work only there. After a while you begin to lose/forget skills you need in acute care and I like working the floor, sooo.... that's why travel nursing exists. I can always go back.

I can't judge for all but I would suspect that a lot depends upon the facility as well. The state I'm in now one place has a bad rap and another everyone says "oooh you gotta go it's great!"

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