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Health Care Issues and Illusions (From National Conference on Medical Care and Health Services in Correctional Institutions, 3rd Proceedings, P 17-25, 1979 - See NCJ-91157)

NCJ Number
91158
Author(s)
G E Hastings
Date Published
1979
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The provision of high quality correctional health care at a reasonable cost requires a rationally organized, monitored, and self-correcting system specifically designed for the task.
Abstract
Under a well-monitored, organized system that uses appropriate and competent personnel to perform tasks within their expertise, it is important that the diseases or conditions which may be treated by nonmedical personnel and circumstances necessitating referral should be specified in writing, as should drugs and other treatments which may be mandatory for all personnel, and inservice training must be continuous for the addressing of identified patient management problems. Onsite medical backup should be available daily, while emergency evacuation and treatment arrangements should be made in advance of actual emergencies. Medical audits should be continually performed to identify patient management problems, and a medical record should be made of every patient contact and treatment. The roles of all correctional personnel bearing upon the health care of inmates must be precisely defined, so that inmates receive prompt and appropriate health care. All persons having continuous direct contact with inmates should be trained in first aid procedures and initial health care processing. The medical director should be a physician in order to be able to assess whether the system is regularly providing the health care services needed. In addition, the director must know about medical record systems, audit procedures, inservice training, cost containment procedures, and other matters. Footnotes and five references are included.