Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Enhancing Services for Recently Incarcerated People and Their Families

Background: Our goal was to facilitate the equitable health of people who have been incarcerated and their families. We wanted to help clinicians feel more comfortable about assisting patients with incarceration history, an identified vulnerable population.

Methods: We identified and met with regional experts in correctional managed health and in innovative clinical treatment programs and held educational sessions in July 2016. With key informants, we developed pretest and posttest measures to evaluate the educational session. We also planned and held a follow-up discussion with residents that focused on reflection, communication skills, changes in behavior, and best practices.

Results: Pretests and posttests compared level of knowledge, understanding, and comfort before and after the educational session. The data revealed significant differences in participants’ reports about importance and awareness of the issue, in likelihood of asking about incarceration, in comfort level when asking, in perceived knowledge of health issues, in confidence in linking patients with resources, in awareness of barriers to care, and in empathy. The data showed a mean increase pretest and posttest in providers’ likelihood to ask about incarceration (from 2.9 to 5.61) and their comfort level in asking if a patient had been incarcerated (from 3.6 to 5.17).

Conclusion: The educational session resulted in an increase in awareness, likelihood, and level of comfort in asking about incarceration, as well as an increase in perceived knowledge of health issues and barriers to care. Follow-up discussions are important to affirm learning and continue to address unconscious bias and equitable care.