Teaching Nursing Students to Care for Patients Who Are Inmates

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Correctional Healthcare
• Patient Care

Background:

• Caring for inmate-patients in acute care settings presents unique challenges for nurses.
• Nurse educators play a crucial role in preparing students for these situations.
• Emphasizing inherent dignity and worth is fundamental to patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize information for nurse educators on caring for inmate-patients.
• To provide teaching strategies for nursing students.
• To address the challenges nurses face in correctional healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Literature synthesis from relevant nursing publications.
• Development of teaching content for nurse educators.
• Inclusion of a case study as a pedagogical tool.

Main Results:

• Expressions of respect, care, and concern vary when nurses attend to inmate-patients.
• Understanding these differences is key to effective patient care.
• Nursing practice requires adaptation to diverse patient populations.

Conclusions:

• Nurse educators are responsible for teaching appropriate professional responses to challenging patient care scenarios.
• Curriculum development should include training for caring for inmate-patients.
• Effective nursing education prepares students for all practice environments.