Online Program

293774
Implementing a human rights practice of correctional medicine inside New York City jails


Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 10:30 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.

Homer D. Venters, MD MS, Correctional Health Services, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygeine, Queens, NY
The Bureau of Correctional Health Services (CHS) of the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is responsible for all aspects of health care in the NYC jail system. In 2012, CHS adopted a framework for health care that includes three equally important aims; patient safety, population health and human rights. The initial assessment of human rights concerns led CHS to determine that dual loyalty is a pressing issue for both providers and patients they care for. CHS determined that many of these and other human rights challenges are concentrated around the issues of solitary confinement and reporting of patient abuse. CHS has begun to operationalize training for all heath staff around these issues, as well as created new reporting structures designed to relieve staff of some of the pressures they have reported. These efforts to operationalize human rights concerns in the CHS mission are only beginning and are being met with mixed responses. Overall, learning about human rights and integrating these lessons into a correctional health system is a challenging endeavor but completely necessary for the proper delivery of care.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate recent efforts to integrate human rights into a correctional health operation. Discuss support and opposition to integration of human rights into correctional health.

Keyword(s): Jails and Prisons, Health Care Delivery

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a clinical instructor in medicine with experience in New York City jails.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.