Advanced Practice Nurses in Correctional Health Care

Ethical issues of prison nursing: A qualitative study in Northern Italy

“…In addition, this difficult situation, where prison security is considered to be more important than healthcare, 3 was exacerbated by the conflict between the concept of punishment and that of caring, as also widely described in the literature. 13,16,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Ethically speaking, any type of patient problem in prison is important, but those particularly needful of nursing were drug addicts, who require specific pharmacological treatment, and psychiatric patients, who require special assistance and monitoring, even by prison officers due to the high risk of self-harm and suicide. 12,[31][32][33][34][35] Every single contact with a prisoner should be considered as a good occasion to observe and assess the prisoner's problems, even when the patient does not openly express them; therefore, also prison officers' reports should be taken into account.…”

“…13,16,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Ethically speaking, any type of patient problem in prison is important, but those particularly needful of nursing were drug addicts, who require specific pharmacological treatment, and psychiatric patients, who require special assistance and monitoring, even by prison officers due to the high risk of self-harm and suicide. 12,[31][32][33][34][35] Every single contact with a prisoner should be considered as a good occasion to observe and assess the prisoner's problems, even when the patient does not openly express them; therefore, also prison officers' reports should be taken into account. 23,29,32,35,36 Despite this evidence, in our study, correctional nurses reported that key nursing activities like 'observing' and 'talking' to their patients in prison were considered as a 'waste' of time by prison officers, who did not see this sort of activity as essential for nurses as health professionals.…”

“…In addition, this difficult situation, where prison security is considered to be more important than healthcare, 3 was exacerbated by the conflict between the concept of punishment and that of caring, as also widely described in the literature. 13,16,19 –34…”

“…Ethically speaking, any type of patient problem in prison is important, but those particularly needful of nursing were drug addicts, who require specific pharmacological treatment, and psychiatric patients, who require special assistance and monitoring, even by prison officers due to the high risk of self-harm and suicide. 12,31 –35…”

“…Every single contact with a prisoner should be considered as a good occasion to observe and assess the prisoner’s problems, even when the patient does not openly express them; therefore, also prison officers’ reports should be taken into account. 23,29,32,35,36…”