Timely Receipt of Prenatal Care: Implementation of a Nurse-Initiated Protocol in a Correctional Facility

Abstract

The number of incarcerated individuals of childbearing age is rapidly increasing within the United States. Approximately 5-10% of women entering the correctional system are pregnant. While the eighth amendment mandates prenatal care must be provided to all incarcerated individuals, many correctional facilities lack sufficient prenatal care standards. This project used a mixed-methods design to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a nurse-initiated prenatal protocol on time-to-order and time-to-implementation of community pregnancy standards. The project also aimed to evaluate the nurses' intention to change practice using the Continuing Professional Development- Reaction Questionnaire (CPD-RQ) and to explore the nurses' perceived barriers to implementing the nurse-initiated protocol. Fifty de-identified charts were reviewed. Time-to-order for prenatal diet and scheduled first OB appointment dropped significantly from pre-post (p