Bridging gaps in future healthcare professionals’ understanding of justice-related healthcare

The impact of mass incarceration extends beyond the isolated experiences of justice-involved individuals and has a reaching, multifactorial impact on the health of society. Healthcare providers must be prepared to treat patients who are returning from carceral facilities. Unfortunately, health professional programs often lack correctional medicine curriculum. Bridges to Access (B2A): Healthcare in the Justice System was an interdisciplinary conference at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) that educated attendees on the impact of incarceration on mental and overall health. To increase conference participant’s understanding of conference objectives: the importance of education in correctional medicine, the interplay of mental illness and incarceration, and the role healthcare providers can have in impacting change within justice-involved patient populations. Pre- and post-conference surveys consisting of sixteen Likert-response styled questions evaluated the conference’s impact on participant knowledge and perceptions of correctional healthcare, focusing on changes related to study objectives. Each respective Likert-response was paired with a respective numerical value, and participant pre- and post- responses were averaged for each survey question and subsequently analyzed with a paired t-test with a p -value < 0.05 demonstrating statistical significance. One hundred and twenty-three participants completed the pre- and post-conference surveys. Fourteen of the sixteen questions demonstrated statistical significance with a p -value < 0.05. Statistical analysis demonstrated the conference was an effective education tool. Survey participants demonstrated significant growth in their understanding of each objective. B2A: Healthcare in the Justice System addressed gaps in knowledge related to correctional medicine, equipping future healthcare professionals with the tools needed to provide equitable healthcare to justice-involved patients. Due to lack of peer-reviewed literature addressing this topic and several limitations of this study, further research is required to establish bed practices.