The Nurse Practitioner (NP) and Physician Assistant (PA) Residency Program here at California Correctional Healthcare Services (CCHCS) is an innovative training program geared towards preparing newly graduated NPs and PAs to work in complex primary care. The program is the only NP and PA Residency Program in the nation within a correctional setting, which makes it a unique place to learn and grow as a provider. CCHCS offers new graduates the opportunity to strengthen clinical and scholarly skills as a primary care provider and gain exposure to caring for patients with complex medical conditions.

Residents will be based onsite at one or more of our correctional facilities.

Residents will embark on a 12-month post-graduate learning experience including:

• 1600+ hours of mentored Primary Care experience in outpatient, specialty clinic urgent care and inpatient settings.
• Clinical rotations with focused patient populations such as Hepatitis and HIV care, Palliative care, Behavioral Health, Transgender care, Wound and Skin and Soft Tissue Infection care and Substance Use Disorder/Medication Assisted Treatment.
• Procedural Clinics.
• Weekly didactic trainings covering over 40 important primary and specialty care topics.
• Quality Improvement training and support to complete a QI project during the year.

This paid residency position offers health care and dental benefits, in addition to 11 days off per year.

• Precepted “Continuity Clinics”: 16 hrs/week
  These are the cornerstone of the residency. In precepted clinics, the residents develop their own patient panel while having an expert CCHCS primary care provider exclusively assigned to them.
• Specialty Rotations: 8 hrs/week (rotating monthly)
  Planned specialty rotations include: HIV/HCV Care, Behavioral Health, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for substance use disorder, Diabetes Care, Transgender Care, Palliative and Hospice Care, Urgent Care, and Wound Care.
• Mentored Clinics: 8 hrs/week
  During mentored clinics, residents work as a member of an established team and see patients at the delegation of the experienced primary care providers, who remain available for consultations. The focus is on the practice of episodic and acute care visits and learning practice management skills.
• Didactic Education Sessions: 4 hrs/week
  Formal learning sessions on a variety of conditions and complex clinical challenges most commonly encountered in primary care. The content of the presentations is planned to correspond to the resident’s clinical experiences.
• Quality Improvement Training: 4 hrs/week
  Training on CCHCS’ quality improvement model, including population health management and clinical microsystems, as well as professional and leadership development.

Evaluations The CCHCS NP and PA Residency Program provides an ongoing multi-input evaluation component using qualitative and quantitative measures.
Please click here for the recorded program presentation webinar

The NP and PA Residency Program has the following goals:

• Prepare NPs and PAs to become confident Primary Care providers while utilizing the most up to date evidence-based practices
• Deliver a robust curriculum that integrates critical thinking and independent decision making and expands the body of knowledge of advanced practice providers
• Increase new advanced practice provider satisfaction with their transition from entry-level to competent primary care provider
• Increase access to quality primary care for underserved and special populations

The prison population is a historically underserved and high medical risk population, which in California consists of about 100,000 adults and 34 facilities across the state. Compared to the general population, the prison population has a significantly increased burden of chronic medical conditions, infectious diseases, trauma, mental illness, and substance use. There are also well-recognized socioeconomic, educational, and racial disparities in the correctional population. Moreover, the prison population is still part of the larger community, requiring coordination of care throughout incarceration and upon parole/release. All health care providers must have an understanding of incarcerated patient populations and work together to fill in gaps in health care.

“This has been a great learning opportunity and an excellent model of interdisciplinary care delivery.” – NP Resident

“Overall I’m having a wide variety of experiences with exposure to a variety of different providers and practice styles. I’m thankful I can see this specific healthcare from so many different lenses.” – NP Resident

• Recent graduate (within 24 months) from an accredited Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant Program
• MUST be able to complete 12 consecutive months of training starting September 2022
• Nurse Practitioners must be board certified in Family or Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (board certified by ANCC or AANP)
• Current active and unrestricted license as an RN and APRN in California (NP applicants)
• Physician Assistants must be board-certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)
• Be proficient in spoken and written English

*Applicants must be board eligible if graduating winter or spring of 2022 and, if selected, must obtain boards and required licensures before program begins.