Community setting: forensic/ correctional nursing - Research Paper Example

This branch or nursing arose due to the need of maintaining high medical standards in correctional facilities so as to prevent spread of communicable diseases and to ensure the inmates health conditions are attended to (Hammer & Moynihan, 2011). It is a relatively new field of nursing and has not yet developed in to a full discipline of specialization. Forensic nurses do not need to have specific certification detailing their specialization in this field. The International Association for Forensic Nurses however offers two certification courses for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner- Adolescent/Adult (SANE-A) and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner- Pediatric (SANE P) (Hammer & Moynihan, 2011).

The community of inmates has their own rights and obligations too, among them the right to proper medical care. Jails experience a high imamate turnover from time to time since they do not hold inmates for long. Jails only hold inmates who have not yet been tried for their offenses or those whose jail terms do not exceed two years. Jails are managed by cities and counties in which they are located. The high turnover rate of inmates in jails may pose a bit of a challenge in provision of medical health care. . The prison population in the US is now more than four times what it was twenty five years ago.

This makes the nation the highest country incarcerating more people per capita. About 2.3 million prisoners rely on the prison structures for their medication. About 70% of all inmates possess one or two mental disorders including psychiatric morbidity. The suicide rate in prisons is estimated to be about 15 times higher than that of the general population. In 2002, the rate was at 143 people committing suicide per 100000 people in prisons as compared to 9 per 100000 in the general population.

Inmates are also affected by other medical problems such as HIV/AIDS, asthma, arthritis among others (Eric and Raymond, 2009). Forensic nursing has various ethical implications. Forensic nursing has a very wide scope of ethics. Forensic nurses are expected to observe and respect their client’s confidentiality, their obligations to the field of science as well as their dedication to their colleagues in the line of duty (Eric and Raymond, 2009). First and foremost, forensic nurses are required to operate within the framework of the codes of ethic outlined by the International Association for Forensic Nurses.

The population of the US comprises of ethnic, age, sexual and cultural diversity, all of which have had a huge impact on the practice of nursing as a whole. A lack of cultural awareness or sensitivity as well as the lack of cultural competence has adverse effects on the health and general well being of the whole society as a whole. Inmates in the correctional facilities come from different backgrounds in terms of their ethnicity, race, age and religion among other differentiating issues. A proper understanding of