As corrections facilities face overcrowding, corrections health care is facing another problem. While many facilities are plagued with an abundance of offenders, correctional healthcare is facing just the opposite: the field is growing and demand for practitioners is high -- but the number of qualified applicants is dwindling.

“Correctional medicine is growing in size and scope,” says Dave Thomas, Professor and Chairman for the Department of Surgery at NOVA Southeastern University (NOVA). “The model [in correctional medicine] is still to grab any physician that applies for a job, much the same way that emergency room care was done in the past. But what we really need is to prepare people thoroughly for these positions.”

With that concept in mind, NOVA is preparing to launch a Correctional Fellowship program. In order to ensure that trained and able professionals are prepared to fill the gaps left behind in correctional medicine, NOVA has developed a two-year program that leads to a Masters degree in Public Health, as well as award certification in Correctional Medicine. Thomas says NOVA expects to start accepting applications for the fellowship in early 2006.

“Like any other medical specialty program, we expect our candidates will have certification in a medical specialty already,” Thomas explains. “However, they will receive experience as a regional medical director.”

As NOVA begins to accept and review fellowship applicants, The Corrections Connection Network spoke with Thomas about the experience offered through the fellowship – and how the program can help solve the shortage of experts in correctional healthcare.

Q: What can someone who becomes a fellow expect from this program?

Thomas: People who take this fellowship will be physicicians seeking career opportunities in corrections. Anyone accepted as a fellow can expect a few things. Our fellows will have rotations through Butner North Carolina Federal Correctional Complex's hospital, which is a federal detention center. They will also have rotations through the Florida Department of Corrections hospital, an intensive HIV unit, a female facility, and a reception center as well. They will also have didactic programs in legal medicine, quality assurance, epidemiology, and a typical Masters of Public Health level course work. This fellowship will offer lots of hands-on training experience, typical of a medical fellowship.

Setting up the fellowship this way will give our fellows an academic foundation, as well as a broad basis in correctional medicine. This program incorporates all sectors of quality correctional health care. This helps someone catapult to the top of knowledge and job skills in all aspects of correctional health care.

Q: What have your partners added to this fellowship?

Thomas: We've been working with the CDC, the Florida Department of Corrections, and several private jail health providers. This will give the fellow broad correctional experience in acute and chronic correctional medicine in the private and public sector. It is our goal through the fellowship to have our graduates prepared and available for senior correctional health care positions.

Our partners are very excited about this – we have had other people in the correctional industry ask about this program. We've already had people interested in becoming the first fellows in the program.

Q: What are the benefits for fellows?

Thomas: The pay and benefits for a fellowship are very competitive with a typical physician job in the correctional field. One of our goals is to have one person newly out of a residency program and another fellow who has been practicing in an area and wants to shift into correctional health care. I have talked to a surgeon who has practiced surgery for about sixteen years – and he simply doesn't want the on-call, constant demands and life-style that they've had so he is seeking a career in corrections. This kind of program sets him up ideally for that.

In corrections, you're not dependant on federal government reimbursement for Medicade services, nor are you involved with insurance reimbursement - you're a salaried physician in some programs with bonuses. Your work schedule is also generally much more predictable and comfortable than that of a solo or group practitioner. For instance, malpractice is driving doctors out of areas entirely in some areas. But in corrections, malpractice is generally not as big of a problem.

Q: Do you think fellowships such as these could help correctional health care?

Thomas: The model is still to grab any physician that applies for a job, much the same way that emergency room care was done in the past. And really, most people in correctional medicine go into, for example, jail medicine and then do not involve themselves in prisons or vice versa.

But what we need is a group of highly-trained and skilled physicians that are ready to move in and handle the unique aspects of correctional health care from multiple angles. This program will lead to sound knowledge in the field, surely.