NCJ Number
190467
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 63 Issue: 5 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 84,86-87,88
Date Published
August 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article considers the differences between correctional nursing practice and traditional nursing.
Abstract
The article claims that the greatest difference between traditional nursing and correctional nursing is how inmates' constitutional rights and court principles interact with nursing practice in the correctional setting. Correctional institutions are required by constitutional law to provide inmates' dental, medical, psychiatric, and psychological care. While the courts have established the framework for correctional nursing practice, individual nurses provide the judgment and common sense within that framework. To assist nurses in understanding some of the requirements and conditions of correctional nursing practice, the article describes and explains: (1) "deliberate indifference to a serious medical need"; (2) certain generally recognized components of deliberate indifference to inmates' serious medical needs; (3) what qualifies as a serious medical need; (4) what is not deliberate indifference in nursing practice; (5) what to do in the case of an inmate who refuses treatment in an attempt to manipulate the prison administration into meeting his or her demands or to gain attention; and (6) the nurse's responsibilities in a forced medication process. References