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NCCHC Jail Commander Conversations:

Health Training for Correctional Officers Standard

This standard, J­C­04 Health • Intoxication and withdrawal • Training materials are disor­
Training for Correctional Officers, • Adverse reactions to ganized, making it difficult
provides a structured list of medications to assess compliance with the
training topics to ensure cor­ • Signs and symptoms of mental standard.
rectional officers are trained to illness • Facility policy and curriculum
recognize health­related issues are missing several key topic
with an inmate and the need to be • Dental emergencies areas such as:
referred to medical or to a quali­ • Procedures for suicide — procedures for referral of
fied health professional. prevention inmates to medical,
• Procedures for appropriate — dental and mental health,
Why Is This important? referral of inmates with medi­ — signs and symptoms of
Since correctional officers cal, dental, and mental health mental illness, and
are often the first to respond to complaints to health staff
issues that arise in custody, they • Precautions and procedures — acute manifestations of
chronic illness such as
must be aware of how to handle with respect to infectious and asthma and diabetes.
emergencies, as well as when to communicable diseases
refer an inmate to medical or to a
qualified health professional. It is • Maintaining patient Potential Contributing Factors
important that the training cov­ confidentiality • Change in vendor contracts
ers how custody can assist with To address the needs of special resulting in vendor taking files
early detection of inmate illnesses populations within a facility, when contract ended so facility
and injuries since time is of the additional training may be war­ has no proof of training.
essence with many disease states. ranted, such as: • Lack of standardized way
The longer illnesses/injuries • Health needs of adolescents, if to collect, manage, and store
remain undetected, the more dif­ applicable training files, sign­in sheets,
ficult and expensive they become • Use of naloxone in the event of dates of training, etc.
to treat. Additionally, it places the an opioid overdose • Not reading the standard thor­
inmate at a greater risk for long­ oughly and missing training
term complications. • Pregnancy and labor consider­ topics from curriculum.
ations, if applicable
• Policies and procedures not
• Additional mental health
Standards Indicators of aligning with all of the compli­
Compliance training, including de­esca­ ance indicators identified in
Correctional officers who work lation techniques, for officers the standards.
with inmates receive health­ assigned to mental health units • Facility not understanding
related training at least every two • Health effects of segregation that—while it is expected
years that includes, at a mini­ that 100% of the correctional
mum, the following: NCCHC Sample Survey staff who work with inmates
• Administration of first aid Observations from Surveyors are trained in all areas—the
Observations
• Cardiopulmonary resus­ standard requires, at a mini­
citation, including the use • Facility has not maintained mum, that at least 75% of staff
of an automated external training logs for the past two present on each shift is current
defibrillator years and therefore cannot in health­related training.
verify training compliance.
• Acute manifestations of certain
chronic illnesses (e.g., asthma, • Only 25% of custody staff has Checklist for self-assessment
seizures, diabetes) received training—the expec­
tation is that at least 75% is on next page.
trained.

AMERICANJails SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021 | 53