Journal of Correctional Health Care
Article Abstracts
Volume 10, Issue 4 — Winter
2004
·The Performance-Based
Standard: Implications for Juvenile Health Care David W. Roush, PhD,
LPC The performance-based standards (PbS) movement in juvenile justice has invigorated the field, causing it to look more carefully at conditions of confinement, quality of care, and accountability. From its vague beginnings, PbS is clearer and more systematic, containing concepts and strategies that benefit all standards development efforts. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) should respond by identifying the PbS strengths, applying them to the juvenile health care standards revision process whenever appropriate, and restructuring the presentation of standards so that they are understood by juvenile justice practitioners as performance-based. It is easier for medical and health care experts to explain quality health care standards in a performance-based language than it is for juvenile confinement practitioners to comprehend the subtleties of medicine well enough that they understand why NCCHC standards represent performance-based medicine without using their performance-based language. This paper reviews the history of the performance-based standard movement, presents a checklist or template for measuring how performance-based any given standard might be, and discusses the implications of PbS for juvenile health care standards by NCCHC.
·Lower Genital Tract
Infections Among HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative
Incarcerated
Women: A Mandate for Screening and Treatment in
Prisons Catherine Remollino,
MD; Heidi W. Brown, BA; Jennifer Adelson-Mitty, MD; Jennifer
Clarke,
MD; Anne Spaulding, MD; Lori Boardman, MD; Timothy P.
Flanigan, MD; Susan Cu-Uvin, MD
The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, lower genital tract infections (LGTIs), and their associated risk behaviors is high among incarcerated women in the United States. Correctional systems do not have a standardized program of LGTI screening and treatment. Because many LGTIs are asymptomatic, opportunities to detect and treat such infections in incarcerated women are often missed. This study compares the prevalence of LGTIs and risk factors among 20 HIV-seropositive and 40 HIV-seronegative incarcerated women in Rhode Island. Recommendations based on this data and other relevant studies are given regarding LGTI screening in jails and prisons.
·Prevalence and
Indicators of Chlamydia trachomatis Among Men Entering
Massachusetts
Correctional Facilities: Policy Implications Meeta S. Nguyen, MD,
MPH; Sylvie Ratelle, MD, MPH; Yuren Tang, MD, MPH; Michael
Whelan, BS, MS; Paul Etkind, DrPH; Thomas Lincoln, MD; William
Dumas, RN The prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among 3,026 asymptomatic males tested on urine with the ligase chain reaction (LCR) was 5.9%. Only 13.7%, 5.6%, and 1.5% of men reported having, respectively, two or more sex partners, a new sex partner, or an STD contact in the last 60 days. Age was an important predictor of infection. Compared to universal testing, screening all men less than 30 years of age and only older men with risk factors identified 90.4% of infections while testing 56.9% of males. Adopting this screening strategy will result in significant savings while identifying the majority of infections.
·Sending Medical
Students to Prison—Integrating Correctional Medicine Into the
Larger Public
Health System: A Symposium in Three Parts William J. Rold, JD,
CCHP-A, Guest Editor
·Developing a
Correctional Medicine Rotation for Medical Students David L. Thomas, MD,
JD; Anthony J. Silvagni, DO, PharmD; James Howell, MD, MPH
·The Corrections
Perspective David L. Thomas,
MD, JD; Dianne Rechtine, MD
·The Student
Perspective Noah Lee, MD
Guest
Editor's Introduction:Historically, prison health care has been isolated from the larger public health care community. Many institutions are located in remote rural places, far from medical libraries or tertiary care centers. Prisons have experienced enormous difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified medical personnel, in large part because of low salaries and the lingering social stigma still falsely associated with practice in corrections.
Perhaps part of the problem is also that the notion of integration of correctional health and public health is implanted too late. Giving correctional health care a place at the academic and clinical tables of medical schools is a promising innovation. (complete
Introduction continues here)
