<p>The extreme background checks done on prison nurses are just as much a deterrent as the physical environment in prisons.</p>
<p>And, they don’t make so much - Bloomberg wouldn’t have done a story if that type of yearly income was typical. </p>
<p>Schedules of prison nurses aren’t any worse than those in hospitals or nursing homes.</p>
<p>So, there is no paradox about the salary. If nurses don’t want to work in prisons because they are afraid (rightfully so), and they have to be extremely squeaky clean to be hired, they could pay them a million dollars a year and it wouldn’t matter.</p>
<p>This can’t be serious… I can tell you that if I would make 1 million dollars a year as a prison nurse, I would switch into nursing immediately. So would tons of others.</p>
<p>Ludicrous! As only an out of control, with no connection to reality, bureaucracy can produce."</p>
<p>Well, either workers comp insurance company pays it, or the hospital eats it ($2.5 million were the “charges” - I’m sure they’d settle for a third of that.) The tragedy is that he won’t get the care he requires.</p>
<p>You can find ‘em right here in Olympia (though there are no current listings in the AGs office - all the jobs are taken) - but they’d be defending the Dept. of Labor & Industries workers’ comp system.</p>
I am still foundering on parent1986’s statements above. I can’t tell if he/she is criticizing hiring standards in prisons or, as I read it, nurses for being unlikely to pass drug/background tests and be “extremely squeaky clean.” Do you have experience in this area, parent? Are the drug/background test requirements more onerous for nurses than for other prison staff? Is it difficult for all applicants to pass these screenings?</p>
<p>Jeez, a lot of disrespect on the boards for nurses lately. I’m not a nurse, just appreciative of them.</p>
<p>^^^frazzled #108, first let’s acknowledge that hiring standards may and probably do vary from facility to facility.</p>
<p>The disconnect is finding a nurse who is willing to work in a prison, WHO is also able to pass the background check. </p>
<p>There may be many nurses who would easily pass the background check, BUT they would not want to work in a prison.</p>
<p>I do know that many nurses who apply, fail the background check, which includes things like substance abuse and prior employment history and prior criminal history.</p>
<p>I would imagine that these things apply to other prison personnel, but I don’t know for sure.</p>
<p>also #108, I would think that being a prison nurse involves a high degree of skill, experience, and maturity, in addition to passing a background check and the safety concerns. </p>
<p>An experienced nurse can often find a more desirable job elsewhere.</p>
<p>Maybe that is the problem here? If a majority of Americans can’t pass a drug test or a background test then that might be why we are in the tank…</p>
<p>I am actually a Nurse Practitioner in the prison system. It is certainly a challenging environment, and not one that everyone can work in, yet it can also be very rewarding. You have to have a thick skin, as the comments can be rather vulgar, but you also get to help a population that has generally had limited access to health care.</p>
<p>As far as that background checks and drug screens, anyone who works in medicine has to pass these, it’s really no different than the hospital. Salaries are sometimes better, sometimes worse, depends on it you are a state employee or if medical services are privatized. </p>
<p>There is a lot of overtime, because it kind of freaks people out to be behind bars. Those of us who like it cannot imagine working anywhere else. There’s never a dull moment, that’s for sure!</p>