Nursing behind bars
Using nurse experiences to improve prisoner healthcare .
By Conor Burke
Correctional nursing is a tough beat . All nursing has its hard parts , but looking after a high-risk community in a residential style setting is a speciality job .
Correctional nurse Donna-Marie Bloice has seen a lot in her time at Townsville Women ’ s Correctional Centre , including illicit substance withdrawal , intimate partner abuse , blood-borne viruses , mental health issues and pregnancy .
Bloice and her colleagues look after approximately 200 female inmates and take care of health issues across the spectrum , from dental health to podiatry , while about 60 to 70 per cent of their patients are on one form of medication or another .
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The caregiving itself can be a challenging experience for a nurse new to the system . Bloice , who has been a correctional nurse for a decade , remembers her first days in the prison as eye-opening .
“ It was quite daunting , as you ’ d imagine . I remember passing some offenders on the walkway and saying , ‘ Am I allowed to talk to them ?’ Because I didn ’ t know the rules , which seems , obviously , a really stupid thing to say now , but at the time , you just don ’ t know what you ’ re allowed to do .
“ There ’ s lots of nurses I ’ ve worked with over the years who ’ ve come and had a go at working in correctional health , and they ’ re too tactile .
“ As a nurse you ’ re used to touching people and hugging them in their worst moments and helping them through that social stuff , but you ’ re just not permitted to . You can ’ t be embracing them ; you can ’ t be giving them a lolly or all that kind of stuff .
“ There are strict boundaries , which is really difficult when you ’ re a caring , nurturing person : to suddenly go into this environment where it ’ s taboo to give someone a hug .”
It is an environment that can harden you as a nurse , Bloice says .
“ When you have a woman who comes in , you ’ re asking her some very intimate health questions . It ’ s all subjective , it ’ s what she tells you . If she doesn ’ t want to tell you , you don ’ t know about it , but you ’ re trying your best to get as much information to make a plan of care for her .
“ If she ’ s come from an abusive , violent relationship , she ’ s bearing bruising or she ’ s been sexually assaulted or she ’ s just had child services remove her child or her children from her . I ’ m still a woman at the end of the day .
“ But , whether I ’ m a woman or a nurse , you ’ ve got to try and bury those emotions and be professional in front of these