Will hospitals hire you with only corrections experience

LovedRN, BSN, RN · Dec 10, 2019

If you know someone from the inside. That's how I got into the hospital after correctional facility. Talk to your old nursing school friends, etc.

Flor, BSN · Dec 11, 2019

Thanks for your response, LovedRN! I love working in corrections and chose it as a first nursing job intentionally. Would you be willing to share what that transition was like for you? Did a lot of your skills transfer to the hospital setting, or did you feel like you were starting from scratch in many respects? Do you wish you had started with hospital experience, etc. I work with a handful of nurses who’ve come from a hospital setting, but not the other way around, so I’m just curious.

LovedRN, BSN, RN · Dec 11, 2019

Well I went from correctional to surgery. That's like apple and orange. Totally different. I learned everything new. Nursing school can't teach you that either.

Here is how I got in:

1. I know someone in the surgery department.

2. OR manager was looking for someone has a good attendance and I didn't call in for the whole year. OR was shorted of working people. They didn't care much about my correctional or lack of hospital experience. Attendance was more important to them.

3. Also correctional and surgery were in the same health service department. So I didn't quit per se. I transferred, which the process was shorter than hiring a new one from start.

I don't wish for anything really. Things happened for reasons. The universe wanted me to start correctional before surgery. What can I do?

Correctional is VERY slow pace. Nothing is really change in short amount of time. Neither patients or the department. Everyday is the same. Nothing new. Well that's depends what it's your assignment. But even correctional critical patients who are in jail are not really critical. If they are really sick, they will be in the hospital.

OR, on another hand, things can change really fast, e.g. patient or your assignment, etc. We have 8 OR rooms. None of those rooms are the same specialty. 1st room is Opth, 2nd is ENT, 3rd is GYN, and so on. You will be move from room to room. Or other specialty case got moved into your room. It keeps you on your toes.

We also do trama, only to stable the patient. It was a gun shot wound. Pt was dumped in front of ER.

In OR, it's 1 to 1 ratio. I don't deal with family members. Talk to patient little bit before the case.

Well I guess you can see the pictures now.

Flor, BSN · Dec 12, 2019

Thanks for all the info!

Noodle411, ADN, MSN, RN, NP · Dec 13, 2019

Hi Flor, I worked in corrections as my first job as a new grad RN; worked for there for 2.5 years in long-term care units of a max B facility. I applied for a hospice position in a hospital - emailed my cover letter and resume. In spite of my having only had corrections experience, they hired me because I had experience with working with the elderly, patients with cancer, had end-of-life experience care in corrections, and my current supervisors in corrections provided letters of recommendation. I did not know anybody working at that hospital. One thing that my interviewers told me was that I had expressed a strong passion for hospice, which helped in their decision-making. Hope you found this post helpful. Best of luck to you in your future endeavors.

DCubed · Dec 16, 2019

Hi Noodle,

In your experience, is there a strong need for Correctional nurses? Or not?

Thanks!

Flor, BSN · Dec 16, 2019

Hey DCubed- Yes, definitely seems like there is a strong need. Pays relatively well and it’s a unique population to work with. You should go for it!

Thanks for all all your feedback “Noodle.” Sounds like the skills you learned transferred pretty well to hospice. Did you find that fellow nurses were patient with you when it came to learning hospital specific skills, especially since you were no longer a new nurse when you made that switch? I worry a bit about that, since we get a lot of exposure to certain things in corrections, but very little of others.

DCubed · Dec 17, 2019

Hi Flor. Thank you for the input. I appreciate it. And good luck with your next career move. I wish you well!