How easy it is to quickly blame the actions of staff as the cause of a clinical error. After all, most errors come down to a specific staff member missing an important assessment finding or miscalculating a medication dose. Unfortunately, clinical events are rarely that simple and, when investigated, are more often the result of a combination of system, process,…
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Orders communicated verbally are common in all clinical settings with estimates as high as 20% of all inpatient ordering. Do you use verbal orders in your correctional facility? I’m confident that you do…..and probably more frequently than traditional settings, as prescribers are often less accessible in our secure environment. A Verbal Order (VO) has the following characteristics: communicated orally by…
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Serious mental illness affects at least one in four incarcerated individuals in the US according to a 2015 study by the Urban Institute. More than half of our patients have symptoms of a mental disorder. Correctional nurses, then, are mental health nurses in most settings. Here are just a few examples of situations that can require a psychiatric nursing assessment….
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