Friday, July 20, 2012

Jail nursing

Sometimes being a jail nurse can be so rewarding and other times you leave feeling defeated. This week I had both happen.
First the warm fuzzy feelings. Had a prostitute come turn herself in to escape her pimp. Yes, this does actually happen. Well of course pimp comes and pays her bail. So now the problem, we have to release her but pimp is waiting. What would you do? We cannot legally keep her any longer. A few phone calls later and she is set up on her way to a safe shelter that will protect her. They also provide training to help her start her life again. Work and life skills. Ah, makes a jail nurse proud.
Then you have the ones who make you want to bang your head against a wall. Recently had an inmate in with some pretty yucky dog bites. Instead of letting us take care of them they refuse all wound care. Refuse antibiotics , refuse to even have it looked at. We cannot force medical care but somehow we are responsible for the negative outcome. It's so frustrating that this inmate threatened to sue us if something bad happens because they choose to not let themselves be helped or help themselves. Even gave them the option to do wound care themselves but still refused. Some people I will never understand.

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