Day in the Life of a Correctional Nurse

I have been working in corrections for about six years now. I have worked PRN and full time during my time. I have a post on tips for correctional nurses but if you’re curious about what a day is like working in corrections, continue reading below!

*I will interchange patient and inmate throughout this post. I usually refer to them as “patient” when it comes to providing healthcare and “inmate” when it comes to regular day-to-day happenings in prison.*

A Day in the Life

We have to arrive at work a few minutes early to have enough time to clear the metal detector, get my keys and PBA (personal body alarm) issued, and walk to the medical building to clock in. Once I clock in, I find my assigned area for the day. Depending on where I’m at for the day definitely makes my day differ so I will give a little detail about the 3 areas I usually work. We have multiple other positions in corrections to do as well but I have the most experience in these.

Triage

We start what we call “sick call” as soon as we arrive at 0600. Here we receive a sick call form from the inmates where they write down whatever issues they are having, we pull their medical chart and call them in. Depending on what is going on with them, we will issue them some over-the-counter medications, schedule them with our in-house doctor, or refer them immediately to the doctor. Depending on how many we have, sick call can last anywhere from a couple of hours to a few hours. 

In addition to sick call,  the triage nurse(s) are required to respond to and handle emergencies on the compound. Some of these “emergencies” are not emergencies and some are true emergencies (think stabbings, bad altercations, true chest pain, respiratory distress, hyperglycemia/hypoglycemia, overdoses, etc.). On day shift during “business hours,” you will likely have multiple nurses as well as providers in the building to assist but on night shift, it might just be you and another nurse! That being said, having very good assessment skills is a must! 

After all the sick calls are complete, depending on how many you had for the day, you may have some downtime before the diabetic insulin-dependent patients come up. We usually finish our shift right after completing our insulin.

Infirmary

Since I came in with hospital experience, I initially started in our infirmary. The infirmary houses the inmates who need nursing care 24/7. These patients’ conditions can range from dementia to healing fractures to the need for IV antibiotics to post-surgery. The infirmary also houses any inmate on what we call SHOS (self harm observation status) in a single cell with suicide precaution bedding and gowns. 

At the beginning of day shift, the inmates are usually back asleep after eating breakfast so I take this time to look through their charts and look at med passes. On night shift, they’re usually awake so I may go ahead and do my rounds before looking at charts and the med pass. The infirmary we have has plenty of windows so you can see each patient without even having to go inside for a quick check to make sure no one is in any acute distress. 

Day shift may have several med passes in the infirmary. In addition, there may be wound care and IV antibiotics that have to be prepared and given. If I am caught up with medications and charting, and an emergency comes in on day shift, I try to help out. On night shift, I always help out because there is usually only two nurses in the building on night shift. 

Most of the infirmary shift consists of med passes, charting, and any other nursing care that is needed. You may also have admissions and discharges to complete as well. The infirmary usually stays pretty steady with work. 

Med Room

In our med room, we prepare and administer medications for anywhere between 200-500 patients depending on the shift and how many inmates we have at our facility at the time. We usually have 2 med passes but we can have 3 or 4 depending on the medication an inmate is receiving. We have two main med passes and the other 1-2 are much smaller with only a handful of patients.

There are usually 2-3 nurses staffed for the med room. One nurse for the morning pass and usually two nurses for the evening pass because it is larger. We have had numerous different shifts during my years working in the med room but the most popular seems to be our morning nurse comes in between 2am-3am for 12 hours and the two evening nurses come in at 6am for 12 hours. You have to prepare the meds you are going to give so every day they have to be prepared to be administered. 

During med pass, inmates will come up to the med window with their ID to take their medication. We try to have a set time where security can send the inmates up but because certain things can change the way the day is operating (lock downs, master roster counts, etc.) we may have to give meds at a different time. We also have to administer medications to our confinement inmates. With confinement, we have to walk to the dorm and administer medications at the cell front on the wing.  

The med room stays pretty busy due to having to prepare every single patients medication in time for med pass and then administering it. If our medical assistant is off work or on the weekends, the med nurse has some additional duties that definitely keep us busy.

Heading Home

At the end of the day, we clock out then leave out the same gate we entered and return our assigned keys and PBA. Correctional nursing isn’t for everyone; nurses have quit during or after their first shift. I personally love it. I love working with what we have to do my job. I enjoy being able to educate such a forgotten population on how to care for themselves in such a harsh environment. I also have really great coworkers and leadership where I am at. Sure there are days that are rough but overall, I love being a correctional nurse!

Feel free to ask me any questions!