Enhancing Care of Aged and Dying Prisoners: Is e-Learning a Feasible Approach?

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Medicine
• Correctional Healthcare
• E-Learning Technologies

Background:

• Prisons and jails face increasing demands for geriatric and end-of-life (EOL) care for aging inmates.
• Existing EOL care toolkits lack comprehensive geriatric content and are not optimized for broad dissemination.
• Previous training methods for EOL care and aging in correctional settings lacked technological innovation and interactivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify current training approaches and preferences for correctional staff.
• To assess the technological capacity of correctional facilities for e-learning implementation.
• To inform the development of effective computer-based training for geriatric and EOL care in prisons.

Main Methods:

• An environmental scan was conducted with 11 participants from U.S. prisons and jails.
• The scan focused on assessing the suitability of correctional settings for computer-based training.
• Key areas of investigation included content relevance and technology infrastructure.

Main Results:

• Findings highlighted essential training content and desirable training qualities.
• The study observed a prevalence of "homegrown" training products within correctional settings.
• The feasibility of implementing commercial e-learning solutions was evaluated.

Conclusions:

• The study identified key elements for successful training program adoption and potential challenges.
• Technology-related issues crucial for designing computer-based training in correctional settings were revealed.
• Participants expressed strong interest in geriatric and EOL training via e-learning, provided materials are customizable.