Increasing Access to Quality Healthcare in Correctional Settings by Expanding Health Workforce Capacity
Caring for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people is a unique practice with unique needs and challenges. There are a few medical centers and universities across the country that are addressing this with medical residents, but our course is innovative in that it is targeting students earlier in their education. It’s our hope that students will then think about this earlier in their career as well.
– Karen Reece, PhD, director of research and program evaluation at the Nehemiah Community Development Corporation
At a Glance
Most healthcare education/training programs, including those at medical and pharmacy schools, do not offer courses that specifically focus on health challenges related to mass incarceration. Criminal justice system involvement is heavily stigmatized, which negatively impacts desire to interact with or gain a deeper understanding of current or formerly incarcerated individuals.
This project focused on reducing the stigma students may have by providing the opportunity to hear directly from formerly incarcerated individuals. The grantees assembled a cross-campus multidisciplinary class on correctional healthcare that provides an overview of the complicated criminal justice system and matches future graduates to mentors delivering healthcare to inmates. The well-received course resulted in students considering how they might adapt their careers to address the specific health challenges presented in our criminal justice system. As a result, the course Medicine 809-Intersection of Health Care and Incarceration will be offered each spring and is open to medical, nursing, pharmacy, and PA students.
The Challenge
Most healthcare education/training programs, including those at medical and pharmacy schools, do not offer courses that specifically focus on health challenges related to mass incarceration. The general public is unaware of how the correctional system operates and lacks understanding of unique challenges for appropriate care inside jails and prisons. In addition, criminal justice system involvement is heavily stigmatized, which negatively impacts desire to interact with or gain a deeper understand of current or formerly incarcerated individuals.
Project Goals
The overarching goal of this project was to assemble a cross-campus multidisciplinary class on correctional healthcare that provides an overview of the complicated criminal justice system and matches future graduates to mentors delivering healthcare to inmates. In addition to curriculum and panel discussions, the grantees aimed to develop a relationship between a trainee and a mentor in the same field. The grantees believed that education and training for correctional healthcare should be offered as any other specialized field with specialized training.
The intended outcomes were to increase awareness of criminal justice-related health issues in schools teaching healthcare professions, increase interest among first-year students in learning more about pursuing a career in correctional settings, increase awareness among faculty and administrators in these schools of the need for specific training on the criminal justice system, increase awareness of health inequities and their relationship with criminal justice system, establish a for-credit course that is a regular and recurring elective and establish initial mentorship relationships.
Results
The grant led to the creation of a course consisting of 16 modules covering various topics such as an overview of mass incarceration and the WI corrections system, issues specific to women’s issues, mental health, addiction, and infection control. To support the students and provide insight into careers in correctional settings, the grantees built a network of 20 mentors either working in the WI Department of Corrections or in health care professions that frequently interact with people who are currently incarcerated or have experienced incarceration. The well-received course resulted in students considering how they might adapt their careers to address the specific health challenges presented in our criminal justice system. All intended outcomes of the grant were accomplished, and the grantees are well-positioned to achieve the medium and long-term goals of this project as well. Evaluations for the course have been highly positive and provoked students to think about how they might utilize this knowledge.
Specific outcomes include the creation of a course in UW SMPH that will run every spring semester. The course, Medicine 809–Intersection of Health Care and Incarceration, is open to medical, nursing, pharmacy, and PA students. The grantees have developed a relationship with the WI Department of Corrections and are growing a network of mentors providing care in correctional settings for students taking the course. Each of the three cohorts who have taken the course have shared feedback that the course was beneficial, and they learned information that was not available elsewhere in their curriculum.
Looking to the Future
The established course will continue to be offered, and the grantees look forward to growing the network of mentors and potentially expanding the scope of the course to include specialized tracks for students who wish to engage further. The course will be funded by the medical school for primary staff.
Lasting Impact
The grantees were able to fill a gap in the medical school curriculum, and students became interested in how they might adapt their careers to incorporate the information they learned. Nearly 30 students have completed the course, many who are taking the information they learned to other parts of the country as well.
UW studies, teaches mental health care for incarcerated people amidst recent deaths in Wisconsin