ACCESSING HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN PRISON POPULATION

S. and over 600,000 released annually into the community (Rabuy, 2017), this population is way too large to ignore. According to the Nation Institute for Correctional Institute more than 5% of the general population suffers with some sort of mental illness and around two million individuals, with a mental health disorder, are in and out of the United States prison system annually (Scattergood 2017). Which leads to jails becoming the primary provider of care in a significant way for the treatment and containment for individuals with serious mental illness and a vast amount of the population who may likely have some degree of chronic medical condition and infectious disease. Within the general population, it is known that lack of education, socioeconomic disparities, mental health and co-occurring disorders put one at a greater risk for reduced access to care and poor health outcomes, which forces one to conclude that incarcerated population is at an even greater risk for healthcare disparities when accessing needed healthcare (2016 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report.

In that role nurses act as the ruling authority in establishing policies and standards that are set forth by governing bodies. Working within the scope of practice is paramount in VULNERABLE POPULATION Incarcerated populations have been represented as a vulnerable population since the inception of prisons and the induction of mass incarceration. Evidence suggest that disparities exist as it relates to the access and utilization of healthcare services amongst African American, Latina and Native Americans, and with an overwhelming representation of the prison population, their opportunity to gain access to health care decreases upon incarceration. Minority in particular for those with a history of incarceration, are significantly less likely to have regular source of medical treatment (Kulkarni 2010). Individual Societal views on individual behind bars plays a significant role to why this population are continually rendered inadequate healthcare.

Depression and anxiety are some of these effects, and the saddening thing is that they are overlooked since they are invisible. The outcome is often worse and there are increased likelihood that these children will lead to jail again in their lifetime. Above that, incarceration among the youths often impact heavily on bad grades and school dropout cases (Aizer & Doyle, 2013) BARRIERS TO THE SOLUTION Economic variables that impact the problem Cost is a major contributor to the improvement of access to healthcare in incarcerated population, mainly in part because of the privatization of the institutions and Medicaid not being available to inmates, this will continue to drive the divide in care for those incarcerated. Risk Factor Survey of approximately 30 communities in the United States indicate that residents in mainly minority communities continue to have lower socioeconomic status, greater barriers to health-care access, and greater risks for, and burden of, disease compared with the general population living in the same county or state ((Venters, 2016).

The 2012 National Healthcare Quality Report found that almost none of the disparities in access to care are improving. As a result, expansion of healthcare services to inmates is essential. This is fostered towards creation of the best and most effective good health and care among prisoners. Having at least one qualified medical officer at every institution will be a major move towards improvement of the inmates’ health. Additionally, there is need for proper infrastructure and availability of drugs for facilitation. Reducing recidivism Ensuring that the correctional facilities are well equipped with resources necessary for rehabilitation of the incarcerated individuals plays a major role towards public safety since most of these individuals will one day be released. Advancement towards improving the disparities in access to care within this population will require collaboration amongst correctional institution, community official, local-level, state and federal regulatory bodies.

For a large number of the people in and out of jails, this will be where they live, grow, age and even work for a number of years, with recidivism being amongst the highest in our nation’s history. The stress and physical health factors that accompanies being behind bars will likely lead to surge of unattended treatment, amongst prisoners with no prior chronic medical history or no prior history of mental health disorder. MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROMOTING RESOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM The combated efforts that are called for to integrate various principals that play a significant role in the provision of healthcare services to the prison population have attributed to the success of the program. There are disparities in the quality of health care services that are provided to these group compared to the lawful population (Free et al.

Besides, the primary need that focuses on patients is central to the leadership process and also engages the patients to gather areas that may need transition within the prisons and more specifically on the provision of healthcare services. GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE PROBLEM The need to provide healthcare services to the prison population bears a heavy burden from a global perspective. It has been noted that the fate of prison population rests on how the administration addresses the issue of health care to the prison population. (Andersen, 2004). One of the problem that has been reported that is associated with the prison population is the access to services as HIV/AIDS, cirrhosis, asthma, diabetes and other chronic diseases. The prison population has benefited from this innovation.

HEALTH POLICY & LEGISLATION THAT IMPACT HEALTH ISSUE The government and other healthcare stakeholders are tasked with the responsibility of formulating policies that aim at improving the health care services for the prison population. The law also requires that the health care of prison population is a state responsibility. Other considerations such as the need for insurance policy covers are also taken into account to provide coverage for the prison population and ensure equity among all citizens. PRIMARY, SECONDARY & TERTIARY LEVELS OF PREVENTION A primary level of prevention to address the problem of improving access to health care amongst prison population is to have a qualified medical officer at every institution to always offer medical services to the inmates on demand. Health care remains a fundamental part of human being and therefore should be provided equally and universally to all, and inmates should not be left out.