What Makes Correctional Medicine Different?

Correctional Nurse Kim. She can say "No."

I recently read my friend Lorry Schoenley’s excellent article on Correctional Nursing is Different–Research Report which is about the differences between correctional medicine and traditional community medicine. Coincidentally, I also found myself at about the same time hiring a new full-time Physician Assistant with no correctional experience and having to explain how important these differences are.   If you do not recognize and embrace these differences, you can get yourself and your patients into serious trouble.  In this article, I am going to point out some of the important differences between correctional medicine and what I am going to call  “Outside Medicine.” Continue reading