CCHP-A case studies
CCHP-A · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Certified Correctional Health Professional – Advanced (CCHP-A) is an advanced credential offered within the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) certification program. According to NCCHC, CCHPs may opt to pursue Advanced certification (CCHP-A) in addition to specialty certifications such as CCHP-MH for mental health professionals, CCHP-CP for clinical providers (physicians, NPs, PAs), and CCHP-N for nurses. The CCHP-A case studies are 5 cases and about 3,874 words.
1Two Weeks Out: Survey Readiness Under a Hiring Freeze
You are the health services administrator at a 1,180-bed county jail (average daily population 1,040; about 9,200 admissions a year) with an accreditation survey 45 days away. Of 20 authorized RN positions, 14 are filled, and agency nurses cover two shifts a week.
801 words, about 4 min2Hospice, Security, and a Failing Patient 180 Miles From a Hospital
You are the health services director for a 2,200-bed state prison. A 58-year-old man serving life for a 1994 robbery has metastatic pancreatic cancer; oncology estimates weeks to two months.
774 words, about 4 min3The Whiteboard in the Officers' Station
At a 900-bed jail, a captain has installed a whiteboard in each housing unit's officers' station headed "MEDICAL ALERTS." Officers write entries themselves from what they hear on the floor: "HIV," "Hep C," "psych - suicidal," "seizures," "on warfarin," and one entry listing an inmate as "TB." You learn of it when an inmate tells a nurse that the whole unit knows his HIV status and that he has been threatened. Separately, the intake lieutenant wants nursing to hand over each new arrival's full medical intake form so officers can "assign cells appropriately." An audit you requested shows that over eight weeks, 14 non-clinical staff opened the record of a correctional officer's spouse.
747 words, about 4 min4An INR of 11.2 and Eighteen Months of Ignored Warnings
At a 1,400-bed state prison, 88 patients take warfarin. INRs are drawn at a contract laboratory and faxed to the infirmary, where a nurse files them in the paper chart; the prescriber reviews them "when he is in." Last month a patient with an INR of 11.2 was found with melena and a hemoglobin of 6.1 g/dL and was hospitalized for four days with transfusion.
796 words, about 4 min5Heat Wave, Failed Chillers, and a Warehouse of Warm Insulin
You are the regional nurse administrator for a 2,300-bed state prison during a June heat wave. The chillers serving Dorms C and D, 220 beds each, failed at 0900; the contractor's earliest repair is 72 hours out.
756 words, about 4 min