Registered Nurse

Farisha: Hi, my name is Farisha, I’m a third-year nursing student and I want to check out what nursing is like in a prison.

Clinton: Farisha is going inside Spring Hill Corrections Facility – one of 20 prisons in New Zealand...

Kirsten: Hi Farisha…

Clinton: …to meet Kirsten Harrison, a nurse at Corrections.

Clinton: Nurses at Corrections provide the same range of health care to prisoners as nurses do in the community – that is, they maintain the health and wellbeing of prisoners.

Kirsten: We’ve just got a few things you need to look out for. Some people can be pretty manipulative, so just be careful with the questions you’re asked. OK? But you’re safe, you’ve always got someone with you, security officers are around – you’ll be fine.

Clinton: There are risks working in this environment. But Corrections know the risks, and manage them.

Farisha: So what’s the main difference between working on the outside and working here?

Kirsten: Well when you’re working in a hospital as a nurse, you’re in a more specialised environment, whereas when you’re working here, we do a variety of things – from accident and emergency right through to general practice and primary health care.

Clinton: There are about 9,000 prisoners in New Zealand and nurses help with the ultimate goal of reducing reoffending by focusing on the offender’s health and wellbeing.

Farisha: So what kind of skills help in this kind of work?

Kirsten: In this environment, I think life experience is really, really important. Also having a wide variety of skills. You need accident and emergency and you also need knowledge in long-term medical conditions as well. So we’re just going to go and give a prisoner his medication now, OK?

You need to make sure that you’ve got the right prisoner first – he needs to be facing you with a glass of water, OK? Put the medication in his hand, he’s got to swallow that medication and you need to check his mouth to make sure he’s swallowed it. OK?

Farisha: OK, yep. Is there anything I should be careful of?

Kirsten: Just stand a little bit back from the cell door when the officer first opens it – you can get an impression of his mood.

Guard: Medication, blue.

Prisoner: Morning guys!

Farisha: Morning, how are you today?

Prisoner: Morning, how are you? Are you new?

Farisha: Yes, I’m new.

Farisha: I’ve got your morning medication.

Kirstin: You must make sure that he’s got his hand out, with his cup of water in his other hand, OK?

Kirsten: Alright.

Farisha: So we’ve got your ibuprofen here.

Prisoner: OK. Ta.

Kirsten: Lovely, thank you.

Farisha: Thank you.

Kirsten: Well I applied for a job at the Department of Corrections because it provided me with a challenge – also a really good environment to use the skills that I’ve learnt over the last few years of being nurse, and the hours are really good, they fitted in with my family, better than working shift work – you know, night shifts, and the opportunity to progress in my nursing career.

Clinton: Every new prisoner like Dylan gets an initial health check.

Kirsten: One of the really important things for us is that we’re working with people that may never have had access to adequate healthcare before, so they often arrive really, really unwell.

Kirsten: Do you have any history of any depression or anxiety in the last 12 months at all?

Dylan: Nah, not really.

Kirsten: And we move through the treatment process and they get to the end of their sentence, and they’re quite healthy, they’re quite well, so that’s quite rewarding.

Clinton: While Kirsten shows Farisha how it’s done, they find a problem.

Farisha: I’m going to take your heart rate. [Notices his arm is injured.] Is it sore?

Dylan: I was just playing basketball this morning, and I fell over.

Kirsten: OK. Did you hear a crack, or anything like that, when you landed on it?

Dylan: No, sort of my elbow went back.

Kirsten: What I’m going to do is get Farisha to put that arm in a sling.
The main challenge is the environment we are working in. People aren’t free to move about, so that’s a big challenge. And also a person’s willingness to accept care, and to accept help as well. You have behavioural issues that can provide a barrier to delivering really effective medical care.

Dylan: Thanks miss!

Kirsten: No problem.

Clinton: Male and female prisoners are housed in different prisons. Kirsten now takes Farisha to Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility to see how nurses with the Department of Corrections deal with women’s health issues on the inside.

Kirsten: We’re dealing with women here, so you’ve got health issues specific to women – so gynaecology and pregnancy-related issues. Often in the community they’re very unwell, they haven’t been cared for adequately. So our job is to bring them back to optimum health while they’re here.

Farisha: So what kind of person would be good for this job?

Kirsten: You need to be really tolerant, patient and kind and also leaving your prejudice at the door.

Clinton: Now it’s Farisha’s turn to do an initial health check of new prisoner, Mary.

Guard: Where would you like your prisoner?

Kirsten: Just over here, thank you.

Farisha: My name is Farisha, I’m one of the student nurses. How are you today?

Mary: Good thank you.

Farisha: Is it OK if I do your health care assessment with you?

Mary: That’s alright.

Farisha: OK, so what it involves, I’ll just ask you some questions, and whatever the answer is, I will just type in.

Farisha: Have you had any screenings done before?

Mary: I had it last year.

Farisha: Have you taken medication for mental health?

Farisha: And there’s some more questions for you.

Farisha: Have you had unprotected sex before?

Mary: Yes.

Farisha: Yes? OK. So do you think you might be pregnant?

Mary: Yeah I might be, but I’m not sure.

Farisha: OK, so we’ll just do a urine test, just to do a pregnancy test on you, and if you are pregnant, we can go on from there for further testing. So is that OK with you?

Mary: Yep, not a problem.

Farisha: OK.

Clinton: Being a nurse means helping people deal with emotional news.

Kirsten: OK Mary, we’ve done this test and it’s saying that it’s positive, OK?

Mary: What?! Oh my God!

Kirsten: It’s OK.

Mary: But what am I going to do? That means I’m going to have this baby in here! Oh.

Kirsten: How long are you going to be here for?

Mary: Three and a half.

Kirsten: Three and a half years? OK, so you will be having your baby while you’re here. Alright? But don’t worry about it at the moment, we’ve got a midwife OK? The midwife will take care of your pregnancy care.

Mary: Is there a possibility that I can keep baby in here?

Kirsten: Yes there is. We’ve got a mother and baby unit here.

Clinton: Prisoners who meet certain criteria may have the opportunity to keep their baby with them for a certain period of time in one of the purpose-built mother and baby units.

Kirsten: It’s more than just patching the person up and getting them out the door. We’re looking at the person as a whole and we’re dealing with a really vulnerable population here, so one of the things that I enjoy about working here is that very thing – it’s educating and promoting and helping a person be able to take care of themselves. And that’s why I really love my job.

Farisha: I really like helping people, especially in this vulnerable environment, and I think this will be a really good nursing role for me in the future.

Clinton: Useful school subjects for people wanting to become a nurse at Corrections include science, biology, statistics, English, te reo Māori and health.

To become a nurse you will first need a nursing degree, which takes three years to complete.

Then to become a nurse at Corrections you must be registered with the Nursing Council of New Zealand, displaying adequate primary health care experience, have a current practising certificate, and have a full current driver licence. The Department of Corrections does offer a number of graduate nursing positions whereby you can gain experience working for the department.

On application you need to declare any criminal convictions, and offences may affect your selection.