Correctional Telemedicine and Its Benefits for Female Inmates

The purpose of this study is to identify health issues that are specific to the female population of correctional institutions and how telemedicine would be beneficial in providing healthcare to same. A questionnaire was developed using information from literature on the topics obtained from a variety of places. Once the questionnaire was completed, a randomly selected group of telemedicine providers received the questionnaire, along with an introduction and information on the study that was being conducted. The barriers of this study came from telemedicine providers either not responding to the questionnaire entirely or the providers only being able to answer a portion of the questions with definitive answers. Once the telemedicine providers completed the questionnaire, the results were submitted back to the researcher for analysis. Analysis began when the researcher constructed a table of the results in order to visualize the responses. From the result table, the researcher was able to make conclusions as to the questions of the study. In analyzing the results, it became clear that, while the telemedicine providers did not have much insight and knowledge into female inmate health issues, most agreed that telemedicine would be beneficial in a correctional institute for all inmates. Recommendations for further study would be including correctional institutions, both co-ed as well as female only to compare healthcare provide to the inmates as well as including correctional institutions that implement telemedicine for healthcare services already