Cal State LA Partners with Los Angeles County on Nursing Program

The Inmate Reception Center (IRC) at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Downtown Los Angeles is the first point of entry for 300 to 350 inmates entering the Los Angeles County jail system each day. In an effort to increase the level of care provided to patients at the facility, Cal State LA’s College of Professional and Global Education and the University’s Patricia A. Chin School of Nursing have collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) to prepare incumbent nurses to become Family Nurse Practitioners through an accelerated Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Program with a Psychiatric Option.

“We have seen a huge increase in the number of mental health patients with underlying medical health problems that are being incarcerated,” says Jackie Clark-Weissman, director, Los Angeles County Correctional Health Services. “To address this, it was necessary for our nurses to increase their skills set in order to take patient care to a higher level; to expedite triage, and bridge medical and mental health, so that they are treating the whole person for better care and patient outcomes.”

Thanks to a generous grant from Los Angeles County, 23 MSN students began their coursework in spring 2018 at Cal State LA Downtown. Students attend class on Saturdays where a wide range of courses covering health assessment and examination, pharmacology and diagnostic reasoning, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric health disorders (with a focus on individual treatment), are offered. Clark- Weissman added, “Of the three higher learning institutions that were considered, we felt that Cal State LA was more in line with what we needed and wanted out of a nursing program. I’m hoping this inaugural program is the first of many that we can provide to our nurses.”

A unique feature of the MSN program is the student nursing work scheduled at the Twin Towers, which also serve as practicum hours. In addition, a Friday on-site class brings Cal State LA nursing students together for lively team-driven case study challenges. Dolores Thompson, a nurse practitioner with DHS, provides students with real IRC patient cases that contain key health indicators and differentials. Each team works together to present a diagnosis and treatment scenario using assessment and reasoning.

“For continuous learning, our Friday classes enhance the academic content provided at Cal State LA Downtown,” says Thompson. “These team exercises also reinforce the importance of our care model at the IRC where medical and mental health is triaged by a community of providers treating the same patient and determining next steps together.”

Students appreciate the rigorous challenges of the program’s curriculum. “The MSN program challenges me to advance my critical thinking and assessment skills,” says Sherene Smith Irving, a nursing student. “I am becoming a better clinician so that I can better function and serve this population, and any population anywhere.”

Nursing student Rumi Sato feels that becoming an advanced nurse practitioner helps inmate patients become better informed. “For many patients, this is the only time when they may become aware of their health conditions or ever receive medical care. Hopefully we can provide the first step to get them to maintenance and bridge them out into the community.”

At a larger level, nurse practitioners bridge a health care gap. “There’s a fine line between RNs and MDs,” says Thompson. “That trend is no different at Twin Towers. We provide compassionate, high quality, comprehensive, cost effective health care.”

D Cal State LA nursing students work together on a patient diagnosis and treatment scenario to present to their classmates and instructor.