Correctional nursing in Canada's Prairie provinces: Roles, responsibilities, and learning needs

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Public Health
• Criminology

Background:

• Nurses are the primary healthcare providers for incarcerated individuals.
• Understanding their learning needs, roles, and responsibilities is limited and poorly disseminated.
• Correctional nursing practice requires specialized knowledge and skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To delineate the roles, responsibilities, and learning needs of correctional nurses.
• To gather data from correctional nurses in Alberta and Manitoba provincial facilities.
• To integrate findings with existing data from Saskatchewan.

Main Methods:

• A self-administered online survey was distributed to 340 nurses in western Canadian correctional facilities.
• The survey included a Learning Needs Assessment questionnaire and a Staff Questionnaire.
• Eighty-two nurses completed the survey, resulting in a 24% response rate.

Main Results:

• Participants were experienced nurses with expertise in correctional nursing.
• Identified learning needs directly correlated with correctional nursing roles and settings.
• Paramount learning needs included managing mental health disorders, self-harm, and suicide in incarcerated populations.

Conclusions:

• The study illuminates current trends in correctional nursing in western Canadian provincial facilities.
• Findings provide a basis for enhancing professional education, practice, and future research.
• Addressing identified learning needs is crucial for improving healthcare in correctional settings.