Imprisonment on Individuals, Families, and Communities Incarceration
Incarceration and its Impacts
"Research has shown that the American prison system – and the "get tough" approach to crime that has helped increase the incarceration rates – impacts just the entire society, especially poor communities…" (Shelden, 2004, p. 6).
Introduction
Incarceration certainly has an impact – mostly negative – on the individual that is incarcerated. But what about the family of the incarcerated person? And what about the community where the incarcerated person lived and worked prior to his imprisonment? How are families (including wives ad children) and communities impacted by the incarceration of a member of a family in that community? These issues will be reviewed and critiqued in this paper.
From Novice to Expert: A Reflective Nursing Practice Narrative
In her landmark book , "From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice", Dr. Benner tells us that nurses need both theoretical knowledge as well as practical knowledge in order to become experts in their field. Most disciplines place the focus on ‘know that' knowledge (namely theoretical and academic knowledge), but Benner insists that the ‘know how' knowledge of experience is even more important for a nurse, or for anyone involved in a health-care setting, since the nurse/ practitioner learns from an accumulation of experiences and from trail-and-error. Benner (2001), too, posits 5 different levels of development that the health-care practitioner moves through: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. Each one builds on the other as the nurse uses the reflection gained from her experience to improve her practice. Each of these five different levels constitute proficiency and skill not only in practical labor, but also in other components – such as skilled communication and mentoring – that are integral to the field of nursing.