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Is Correctional Nursing for You?
Is Correctional Nursing for You?
Is Correctional Nursing for You?
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Is Correctional Nursing for You?

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Have you ever thought about working behind bars? For many nurses, providing health care in a jail or prison is not even a consideration when deciding on a career direction. In fact, many practicing in the criminal justice system consider themselves to be ‘accidental’ correctional nurses. Must nurses have little contact with the criminal justice system in nursing school and so are unlikely to choose the specialty. In fact, the general public would rather not think about our patient population. Prisons are often located in out-of-the-way places and the patient population is invisible to most people. Yet over two million Americans are currently behind bars. That is a lot of people in need of health care. And, at least 95% of prisoners will eventually be released so correctional health care affects public health in a big way.
It takes a special person to practice nursing. Nurses must jump into the lives of their patients at a rough point. Illness, injury, and suffering can be ugly, intense, and deeply painful. We deal with body fluids, needles, gaping wounds, and heart-wrenching loss and must take it all in stride.
It takes a special nurse to practice correctional nursing. The criminal justice system is an unlikely health care environment and prisoners are a unique patient population. Here, illness, injury, and suffering are treated in the midst of heightened security, reduced resources, and isolation.
Yet many nurses find their calling in this unusual health care setting. The variety and nature of patient health needs and the opportunity to bring care and concern into a dehumanizing situation can be unexpected job satisfiers. Correctional nurses deal with a population of disadvantaged and vulnerable patients in a difficult time of life. Lack of prior health care contact means nurses can care for patients with unusual conditions along with the mundane ones. Correctional nursing has been described as ‘real’ nursing as incarcerated patients need health teaching, self-care skills, and chronic disease management. Correctional nursing practice is autonomous and self-directed.
Is correctional nursing for you? Find out in the pages of this short book. Take a few hours to explore the many facets of correctional nursing practice. Look behind the curtain into this hidden practice setting. Discover this well-kept nursing secret and decide if you should consider becoming a correctional nurse. Over two million incarcerated patients need you!

LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 18, 2016
ISBN9780991294282
Is Correctional Nursing for You?
Author

Lorry Schoenly

Lorry Schoenly, PhD, RN, CCHP-RN, is a nurse author and educator specializing in the field of correctional health care. She provides consulting services to jails and prisons across the country on projects to improve professional nursing practice and patient safety. She began her corrections experience in the New Jersey Prison System where she created and implemented education for nurses, physicians, dentists, and site managers. Before “accidentally” finding correctional healthcare, she practiced in critical care and orthopaedic specialties.Dr. Schoenly actively promotes correctional nursing through social media outlets and increases the visibility of the specialty through her popular blog – correctionalnurse.net. Her podcast, Correctional Nursing Today, reviews correctional healthcare news and interviews correctional health care leaders. She writes a regular column for the CorrectionsOne.com website where she translates health care issues for the custody officer readers.Lorry is co-editor and chapter author of Essentials of Correctional Nursing, the first primary practice text for the correctional nursing specialty, published in 2012. She is the creator of the Correctional Nurse Manifesto: Seven Affirmations to Guide Your Correctional Practice. This short book is used to orient new nurses in many correctional settings. Her book The Correctional Health Care Patient Safety Handbook is an evidence-based guide to implement patient safety practices in the correctional setting.For the past four years she has helped other nurses become nurse educators as a visiting professor in the graduate program of Chamberlain College of Nursing where she teaches in the nurse educator track.When not writing, speaking, and consulting on correctional nursing practice, Lorry can be found reading Jane Austen, exploring civil war battlefields, or building Lego towers with her toddler grandson.

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    Book preview

    Is Correctional Nursing for You? - Lorry Schoenly

    Quick Start for Correctional Nurses

    Is Correctional Nursing for You?

    Lorry Schoenly, PhD, RN, CCHP-RN

    Correctional Health Care Consultant

    Quick Start for Correctional Nurses

    Is Correctional Nursing for You?

    Copyright © 2016 Lorry Schoenly

    CorrectionalNurse.Net

    All rights reserved.

    No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright holder. Please contact [email protected] for permission or special discounts on bulk quantities.

    Published in the United States by Enchanted Mountain Press

    ISBN: 978-0-9912942-8-2

    Smashwords Edition

    Every effort has been made to use sources believed to be reliable to provide this information. The author and publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance on, the information contained in this book.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction to the Quick Start for Correctional Nurses Series

    Why Should You Consider Becoming a Correctional Nurse?

    What Makes Correctional Nursing a Satisfying Career Choice?

    Six Signs You Were Destined to Be a Correctional Nurse

    Five Personality Traits of a Correctional Nurse

    Jail or Prison, What’s the Diff?

    Who Employs Correctional Nurses?

    The Basics of Caring for Criminals

    Correctional Nurse Lingo

    Ten Skills You Need as a Correctional Nurse

    How to Work with Correctional Officers

    Potential Interview Questions

    What to Know Before You Go to the Interview

    Preparing for the Interview: Calming Interview Anxiety

    How to Spot a Good Place to Work in Corrections

    Job, Career, or Calling – It’s Up to You!

    APPENDIX: Tales from Jails (and Prisons) Around the Country

    References and Resources

    Quick Start for Correctional Nurses: Is Correctional Nursing for You?

    Introduction to the Quick Start for Correctional Nurses Series

    Welcome to the Quick Start for Correctional Nurses Series of brief books intended to jumpstart your correctional nursing practice. Each book in the series takes only an hour or two to read and is packed with essential and practical information on a specific topic important to correctional nurses. Some books cover nursing processes like sick call and medication administration while others deal with specific patient populations like female inmates or juveniles. Still others explore issues of concern to correctional nurses such as self-care needs and dealing with inmates.

    Besides being packed with information, the Quick Start Series includes additional links and resources found on a special page of the CorrectionalNurse.Net blog. Access an expanding list of documents and links at correctionalnurse.net/quickstart.

    Whether you are just discovering the world of correctional nursing, have started your first position in a jail or prison, or been in the field a while, the Quick Start for Correctional Nurses Series has something for you.

    Why Should You Consider Becoming a Correctional Nurse?

    Have you ever thought about working behind bars? For many nurses, providing health care in a jail or prison is not even a consideration when deciding on a career direction. In fact, many practicing in the criminal justice system consider themselves to be ‘accidental’ correctional nurses. Must nurses have little contact with the criminal justice system in nursing school and so are unlikely to choose the specialty. In fact, the general public would rather not think about our patient population. Prisons are often located in out-of-the-way places and the patient population is invisible to most people. Yet over two million Americans are currently behind bars; that is a lot of people in need of health care. And, as at least 95% of prisoners will eventually be released, correctional health care affects public health in a big way.

    It takes a special person to practice nursing. Nurses must jump into the lives of their patients at a rough point. Illness, injury, and suffering can be ugly, intense, and deeply painful. We deal with body fluids, needles, gaping wounds, and heart-wrenching loss and must take it all in stride.

    It takes a special nurse to practice correctional nursing. The criminal justice system is an unlikely health care environment and prisoners are a unique patient population. Here, illness, injury, and suffering are treated in the midst of heightened security, reduced resources, and isolation.

    Yet many nurses find their calling in this unusual health care setting. The variety and nature of patient health needs and the opportunity to bring care and concern into a dehumanizing situation can be unexpected job satisfiers. Correctional nurses deal with a population of disadvantaged and vulnerable patients in a difficult time of life. Lack of prior health care contact means nurses can care for patients with unusual conditions along with the mundane ones. Correctional nursing has been described as ‘real’ nursing as incarcerated patients need health teaching, self-care skills, and chronic disease management. Correctional nursing practice is autonomous and self-directed.

    Is correctional nursing for you? Find out in the pages of this short book. Take a few hours to explore the many facets of correctional nursing practice. Look behind the curtain into this hidden practice setting. Discover this well-kept nursing secret and decide if you should consider becoming

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