Presenting Author: Mary T. Bouchaud, PhD, MSN, CNS, RN, CRRN, Jefferson College of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University

ABSTRACT

Background: The authors' urban college of nursing faced challenges in ensuring an adequate number of community rotation sites through which to prepare students for clinical and public health practice. In 2006 the college began placing students in clinical rotations at a 4,000 person, all male maximum security prison.

Objectives: The authors analyzed 11 years of student feedback to understand their perceptions of a community clinical rotation in a prison setting.

Methods: The researchers employed a retrospective quantitative and qualitative study design using surveys completed by 186 students between 2006 and 2016. The primary author and two independent qualitative researchers conducted thematic analyses of the qualitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS.

Results: Despite initial apprehension, nursing students found prisons to be a safe, beneficial, and unique setting for clinical learning. Students were highly satisfied with the amount of clinical practice as opposed to other rotations, and learned how to function in unfamiliar settings while advocating for stigmatized populations. More than 20 students stated their willingness to consider working in correctional health. All but two students endorsed continuation of the prison as a community clinical site option.

Implications: Urban nursing schools and prisons can form innovative partnerships through which to prepare students with the new skills set needed for practice in the 21st century, which include but are not limited to cultural awareness, recognition of social determinants and their impact on health, and community/population-based care. Prison rotations can potentially bolster the number of students who become community and public health nurses in correctional settings.

Authors: Mary T. Bouchaud, PhD, MSN, CNS, RN, CRRN and Madeline Brooks, BA.