Introduction to Correctional Medicine

Purpose and Rationale for the Course: Millions of Americans cycle in and out of US jails annually, therefore physicians commonly encounter patients who are involved in the criminal legal system.  Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated patients are disproportionately affected with complicated health conditions such as serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and chronic infectious diseases. The purpose of this course is to introduce medical students to clinical challenges commonly encountered by correctional health care practitioners. This rotation provides a unique and rare opportunity for GW medical students to work in a public safety environment that is extremely challenging and rewarding for health care professionals.

Target Students: Potential students for this elective include those medical students who have an interest in correctional medicine as a career; those who have an interest in caring for justice-involved patient populations in the community; and those who have an interest in enhancing their outpatient clinical skills caring for complicated patients.

Pre-requisites:

• All core clerkships
• Prospective students may need to complete a DC jail security clearance form
• Prospective students may need to submit a urine drug screening sample to DC jail authorities
• Students may need to attend an orientation to the DC Jail System prior to the elective or during the first week of the elective

Course Description: The clinical practice site for this rotation will be the Central Detention Facility and Correctional Treatment Facility located at 1901 D Street SE, Washington DC and operated by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. The two DC detention facilities house approximately 2,000 male and female patients. Health care is provided by the non-profit organization, Unity Health Care. During the clinical rotation students will work with multi-disciplinary health care teams with direct supervision by experienced correctional practitioners and nursing staff. Medical students will engage with patients in a variety of correctional health care settings including urgent care, chronic care clinic, and the jail infirmary. Students will be expected to take patient medical histories and develop individual treatment plans. Learning will occur through direct observation, peer feedback, as well as one on one mentoring from a seasoned correctional physician. Additionally, this course involves extensive journal article readings as well as public policy and case study discussions with Dr. Newton E. Kendig, GW Clinical Professor of Medicine with over 25 years of correctional health experience.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Demonstrate professional engagement with incarcerated patient populations without compromising public safety.
2. Demonstrate ability to work effectively with a multi-disciplinary health care team within the correctional setting.
3. Create treatment plans for incarcerated patients with health conditions commonly encountered in correctional medicine.