Hiring the Right People

This week’s podcast features Stacia Rivera, Senior Director of Physical Environment and Security Operations at Providence Swedish. Stacia is the epitome of working her way up through the ranks to attain a senior leadership position in one of the largest healthcare systems in the Pacific Northwest. She talks about everything from attracting more women to the industry to ensuring you’re hiring the right person for the job.

Industry-wide, with current demand, hiring and retaining security officers can be difficult. Stacie admits, she too has that challenge and realizes making sure an officer has the support they need can make all the difference. Especially true in healthcare, where officers encounter violent or potentially violent scenarios on a regular basis.

Part of that support and helping a security professional see success is training. Stacia talked about what her team does to give employees the confidence to recognize pre-attack warnings, respond to incidents, and how every staff member is encouraged to report anything out of the ordinary. “We have to reduce the burden of reporting for our clinical caregivers. They have to document everything, so anything we can do to reduce that burden….we started using QR codes.”

It’s no secret the healthcare industry, in particular, has seen a high increase in workplace violence incidents over the past few years. “The workplace violence is a symptom of something else.” She says her staff discusses the premise that lashing out is indicative of a bigger issue. “Lashing out is a symptom, so what are we doing to make sure the patients have all of the resources they need? If we can recognize what can we do to alleviate symptoms, our goal is to see less.”

Watch the full episode to hear Stacia’s entire interview and visit our site for more podcast episodes. You can also check out the audio-only version on iTunes, Spotify, or Podbean.

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