2020
The Correctional Nurse Newsletters from 2020
January 2020
Happy New Year! As I look back in 2019, I am so grateful to have received the opportunity to continue this CorrectionalNurse. Net blog, and in the process, update Nursing Behind the Wall to be better utilized by all readers. It is hard to believe that this is my fifth newsletter! As I look forward, I see great opportunity to advance the specialty of Correctional Nursing, and I am so glad that you are with me on this journey!…
February 2020
On Fridays, I see patients at the Free Clinic. We are very fortunate to have many students who do their clinical rotations with us, including RNs, APRNs, PAs, and medical students, which gives me a great opportunity to talk about correctional nursing and correctional healthcare. In addition to discussing the patient conditions we treated in clinic that day, I usually share information about whatever class I am researching and writing for The Correctional Nurse Educator. The students, for the most part, are enthusiastic about learning new information…
March 2020
A few weeks ago in chronic care clinic I saw two patients who were Type II Diabetics . Both had been diagnosed a number of years ago, both were on oral hypoglycemic medications and both told me they knew all about diabetes. I could have moved on in the conversation, documenting that each knew about his disease, but instead, I asked more questions…
April 2020
As I sit to write this newsletter, I am focused not on the patient with thyroid disease that I had planned on sharing with you this month, but rather the COVID-19 health situation in which we find ourselves.
Words like “unprecedented,” “crisis,” and “uncharted territory” are consistently being used to describe this pandemic. Nurses, Providers and everyone who works in healthcare are being celebrated as heroes and publicly thanked…
May 2020
As I write this newsletter, we continue to be in the middle of the COVID-19 “unprecedented times”. While some say ithe situation is better, and some “non-essential” businesses are allowed to open (with restrictions), I hear from my correctional colleagues all over the United States that their practices will not be changing anytime soon. I am glad to hear that….
June 2020
I hope this finds you healthy and safe. As our politicians decide that it is “all clear” to return to social interacting, please be mindful that others in the medical field have opinions that it is very soon and that a second wave may be coming in the Fall. Good infection control practices should continue, and I am grateful that we have been brought back to the roots of our nursing.
July 2020
… Today, I start with a question. What do you do when your vital sign machine gives you a reading that is below or above the expected normal range, like a blood pressure of 160/108 or 170/120 or 90/64; or a pulse of 124 or 56? I hope that your answer was “repeat the measure without the machine.” Abnormal blood pressures should always be verified with a manual measurement, and listening with your own ears is the ultimate verification! If the pulse was from the machine or palpated radially, use your stethoscope and auscultate the patient’s heart at its apex (“apically”). Remember to document all of your actions, including the “machine” readings as well as your manual verification readings.
August 2020
I hope that you have had a good month since we last communicated. While I had hoped that COVID conversations would be at a minimum by now, it seems that this is not the case; and the situation, while becoming the “norm,” continues to require vigilance and common sense.
This month, I wanted to share a story that reflects the importance of obtaining a thorough history and subjective information from our patients. A few weeks ago at the Free Clinic, a 43 year old woman came in for a follow-up to an emergency department encounter that occurred 3 days prior. She went to the emergency department for “heart palpations and racing” that had been occurring intermittently for the past six weeks…
September 2020
I cannot believe that a year has passed since I took over the CorrectionalNurse.Net blog, and integrated it with Nursing Behind the Wall and The Correctional Nurse Educator. What I have learned this year from writing this newsletter, posting on the CorrectionalNurse.Net blog and receiving feedback from nurses like you who read them, is that the issues each of us in correctional nursing face every day are not unique. Our colleagues are going through, or have gone through, situations that are very similar. We should learn f rom each other’s experiences! We should be comforted by the fact that we are not alone in our challenges, even if you are the only nurse in a small rural jail.
2019
The Correctional Nurse Newsletters from 2019
September 2019
I am thrilled to be starting this journey into the world of blogging with you! Please note our new newsletter name to better reflect all three of our sites! The integration of classes and case studies to help develop clinical decision-making with the monthly topics at CorrectionalNurse.Net is time-consuming, but so exciting and well worth it! Every month we will have a clinical topic and a professional practice topic posted on the CorrctionalNurse.Net blog. At the same time, there will be a monthly case study posted on Nursing Behind the Wall involving the clinical topic, and at The Correctional Nurse Educator, an associated class that offers accredited continuing education hours will be 50% off for the month…
October 2019
I want to thank everyone who reached out to me about our new program integration – I definitely appreciate your kind words! I also want to be sure I am posting materials that are pertinent to your correctional nurse practice, and so I am looking forward to your feedback and suggestions for future topics.
I wanted to take a moment to share a couple of reminders with you this month…
November 2019
The American Nurses Association workgroup for the Correctional Nurse: Scope and Standards of Practice has finished it work, 13 months after it began. The draft Correctional Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, Third Edition, will undergo its first ANA review by the Committee on Nursing Practice Standards in early December. Upon successful review, that Committee will forward the draft document to ANA’s Board of Directors for final action that approves the scope statement and acknowledges the standards…
December 2019
It is hard to believe that we are already in December! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. There is not a lot to report this month in terms of new things for the correctional nurse .. .perhaps a quiet month is a good thing!…