No work is more personal and intimate than healthcare and working inside a hospital means you are always up close and personal with your customers. In fact, healthcare workers are so close to their work that managing their personal safety comes second to their patients needs. If you are unable to manage your distance and positioning, as say in our training, then you are more than likely going...

When differences divide us, treating each other with dignity by showing respect establishes a common ground for managing conflict.

Enjoy this excerpt from one of our published books.

Chapter 2

Everything is Okay Now. Respond, Don't React 

“Violence can only be concealed by a lie,and the lie can only be maintained by violence.”

-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The security team arrived on the unit in just a few minutes, but the floor was already quiet. The call from dispatch said a nurse was being actively assaulted, so everyone...

Enjoy this excerpt from one of our published books.

Chapter 1

How Much Danger Am I In? Be Alert and Decisive

“Only human beings can look directly at something, have all the information they need to make an accurate prediction, perhaps even momentarily make the accurate prediction, and then say that it isn’t so.” -Gavin de Becker

If we had to open the heart of a nurse, we would see many things like compassion, empathy, and love. Now more than ever, these loving people are often placed in situations that can compromise their safety.

Many years ago, when I was working as a hospital security officer, I was sent to a patient unit regarding a “combative patient.” Oddly enough, healthcare workers rarely regard themselves as being in “combat” when a patient is grabbing, hitting, or kicking them; but, when they describe someone who is acting out at the moment, they often choose the adjective “combative” to describe the behavior...

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has entered our world, business as usual has changed drastically. Being security professionals in a healthcare environment, we are dealing with a variety of challenges even without the addition of COVID-19 to the equation. Emotions fueled by anxiety and escalated fear of others, coupled with the devastation and destruction of panic are the ingredients needed for chaos...

Enjoy this excerpt from one of our published books.

Introduction

I was passing through the Emergency Department when an angry-looking man walked in through the front door. He was a hard figure to miss. He wore a denim jacket with the sleeves torn off and emblazoned on his makeshift vest were the colors of a well-known and notoriously violent motorcycle gang. His bare arms were heavily inked with...