Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Investing in the development of its security leaders should be a strategic focus for every healthcare organization. In an industry that is firmly rooted to promotion from within, this is an excellent way to sustain core values for the healthcare organization and enhance the perception of personal safety and security to all of its constituents.

The people fulfilling the security leadership roles are fundamentally the success of every healthcare protection program. They are the fabric of the security department. Even in the worst of times, they will drive security program success. But who is encouraging their development? This is a question every healthcare organization must address. All healthcare security leaders must build and continually enhance their personal healthcare security knowledge and build their managerial abilities and leadership prowess.

Training Resources and Records Requirements

Training does not just happen—it requires considerable planning. The planning begins with identifying the curriculum and the resources available for training. Instructors, lesson plans, training material, methods of presentation, evaluation, competency measurements, and documentation are primary elements of the training program.

Instructors/Facilitators

As continuing education is prevalent in almost all aspects of the healthcare delivery system, an excellent source of securityinstructors/facilitators can be found in the organization’s staff. Staffs are generally quite willing to assist other departments in training, and no one is better able to relate to a specific area’s security problems than the person responsible for that area or particular function. Generally, an hour is sufficient to accomplish an acceptable level of general training for a specific operating department or function. One-third of this time might be devoted to explaining how the department interacts as a part of the healthcare team; one-third to the department as it relates to security (vulnerabilities, expectations, policy); and the final one-third to questions by security personnel. This allows security officers to question certain practices and to suggest ways to improve the security posture of the facility. Often, a questionable practice in the eyes of a security officer can be explained by the departmental supervisor, giving security officers better insight into the rationale behind the practice.