Hospitals reflect society, and society is pretty chaotic these days.
In his role as Director Of Security and Parking at Signature Healthcare, in Brockton, Massachusetts, our High Reliability guest Scott Hemingway sees a great deal of society. Prior to joining Brockton Hospital in 2019, Scott spent 10 years with LifeSpan, a RI-based healthcare system.
Scott has a completely different professional life prior to beginning his hospital security employment. In 2008, he retired as a Lieutenant after 23 years of service to the Rhode Island State Police. Scott also has military experience which includes being a Staff Sergeant with the Rhode Island National Guard. Scott owns his own consulting firm, The Hemingway Group, located in Warwick, RI.
In this episode, we talk a great deal about the challenges of dealing with the public in a time of societal upheaval. We touch on the skill of de-escalation and how best to support hospital security staff.
“You have to be supportive of your employees, encourage them and let them know we don’t treat people as they are, we treat people to get to where they should be. Everybody has a story to tell and often the people coming in here are under duress, having an episode, and dealing with a psychological issue and addiction, which compounds the issue.
“We have a saying, QTIP – Quit Taking It Personal. It isn’t about you, don’t pick up that tug of war. We have a tap-out policy here. You can only be called a name and threatened so many times in an 8-hour shift (before it impacts you). Tap out is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of maturity and strength because you recognize you are at your limit.”
Scott also speaks about the importance of alignment between Security and Nursing.
“I want to build a relationship with Nursing. We are all trying to get to the same place, and it takes time to get to know and build a relationship with Nurse Managers. This collaboration was helpful and when we started with de-escalation training, we trained security staff and nursing staff together. The relationship building is important.”
Lastly, Scott talks about the importance of Critical Thinking in today’s workplace. That discussion begins at 38:50 of the podcast. Scott mentions three steps he takes to help his employees become better critical thinkers:
1) Tell me what it is;
2) Tell me what the problem is;
3) Tell me how you think we should fix it.
Listen to the episode, or download and subscribe to High Reliability here.
About the Hemingway Group
The Hemingway Group is a Security Consulting service that specializes in finding solutions to the multidimensional and asymmetrical security issues that continually plague all facets of Government, Businesses, Educational Institutions, and Healthcare Systems. THGLLC conducts Vulnerability/Risk Assessments, Threat Assessments, and Security Evaluations.
Please find more information about the Hemingway Group here.
Jobs, jobs, jobs!
Gosselin/Martin Associates is working with Children’s Wisconsin to fill their Vice President, CHW Campus & Support Service role; Bassett Healthcare Network to fill their Vice President, Non-Clinical Support Services; as well as Griffin Hospital and Holy Cross Hospital to fill their Director of Facilities role.
We are also forwarding interested candidates directly to the University of Vermont Medical Center for their open Plant Operator positions.
See all jobs here.