Joel Lashley

Joel Lashley describes himself as the healthcare “violence nerd.” He has been studying healthcare violence for over 30 years and is the author of Confidence In Conflict For Healthcare Professionals: Creating an environment of care that is incompatible with violence.

In this 22 minute audio, Joel discusses the “one voice” tactic for managing a crisis situation with Allen Oelschlaeger, the host of the Confidence In Conflict podcast.

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Healthcare providers deal with conflict a lot on the job, and sometimes that includes rude, obnoxious and even threatening patients and visitors.  Part of the reason people can behave badly in a hospital or clinic is no doubt because they or a loved one is sick or injured.  But is that the only reason?  Are there things we could be doing as providers that could reduce the levels of stress and effectively set limits on challenging behaviors?  Can an “environment of care” be made incompatible with anti-social and threatening behavior?  Absolutely, once we understand that the major element of the “environment of care” is its people!

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What are your thoughts?  Do you agree or disagree with Joel’s observations?   Let us know what you think in the comments section.

If you want more more information about healthcare issues, concerns and solutions, make sure to check out Joel Lashey’s new book,  Confidence in Conflict for Healthcare Professionals.

http://www.amazon.com/Confidence-Conflict-Health-Care-Professionals/dp/0990910911

Hello.

This is Gary Klugieiwicz.

Joel Lashley and I just completed a three day Point-of-Impact Crisis Intervention (P.I.C.I.) Instructor Training Class for the Camden County Police Department.  There were thirty-one instructors in the class from the CCPD and other local agencies.  The purpose of the training was to train instructors to train local police department officers in how to recognize, respond to, and manage persons in crisis.   A unified approach was developed to respond to the three types of persons in crisis:  persons in short term crisis, persons under the influence of drugs & alcohol, and persons with mental health illness or brain-based disorders, such as Autism & Alzheimers.  This program was part of ongoing series of training programs provided by Jack Hoban, president of Resolution Group International (http://www.resgroupintl.com) that incorporates ethics training along with verbal and physical tactics.

In the Verbal Defense & Influence program, we explain the 5 C’s of Communication, i.e. (Initial) Contacts, (Verbal) Conflict, (Verbal) Crisis, (Physical) Combat, and Closure (After Contact).   The beauty of the P.I.C.I. Program is that it applies basic VDI Tactics to crisis management.   The instructors in the class learned the importance of utilizing the Universal Greeting to initiate a non-escalative approach to all contacts – even when the person is exhibiting all the signs & symptoms of being in crisis.   Redirection is used to “Interrupt the Person’s Pattern of Behavior.”  The Persuasion Sequence is used to persuade the person in crisis of ways to return to more safer behavior.   Ethical Intervention is used to keep a “Caring Watch” over each other to prevent the intensity of the situation of getting out of hand for the care-givers who are there to bring order out of disorder.  While all the 5C’s apply to all potential conflicts, the emphasis of the P.I.C.I. Program is crisis management.

On day one, I introduced the Basic VDI Concepts to the class providing focused activities on the ten components of the Communication Under Pressure (CUP) Card.  On day two, Joel Lashley introduced his “Managing Brain-based Disorders” Program along with Special Needs Strategies that included how to reduce stimulation to the person in crisis, how to separate & support the person in crisis.  how to use adaptive communication to “communicate” with different types of persons with special needs, and how to meet a persons in crisis urgent unmet needs.   Day three consisted of the development of courseware for their classes that included crisis intervention management demonstrations videos and videos documenting the instructor’s personal peace stories managing a person in crisis.

We were assisted at this training by Joe Potterton, a nationally known healthcare trainer, crisis intervention specialist, and VDI Instructor.

Joel Lashley and I would like to thank the instructors who attended the class for their contribution of both their experiences and time-tested expertise to the success of this class.

For more information about the Vistelar training programs, check out  http://vistelar.com/training-calendar/

Healthcare Myth Video 2 of 7: If you say something, you will make things worse.

Joel Jashley, a Vistelar Trainer and nationally known healthcare expert, explains the second the myth concerning violence in healthcare that “If You Say Something, You Will Makes Things Worse.”

When faced with disrespectful or threatening language, the silence of onlookers is loaded with meaning. Usually, their silence means their afraid or unsure of what to do. Yet silence is usually how we answer anti-social and even threatening behavior in the public setting. Does our silence make us safer? Is it the right response? Does allowing people to “vent” really de-escalate them? In truth, when people are behaving badly, the last thing we may want to be is silent. And when people in crisis, silence might be saying, “I don’t care.”

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Joel Lashley, a Vistelar Trainer and nationally known healthcare safety expert, explains the Seven Myths surrounding Violence in Healthcare.  Here is the first video that explores the myth the if you Kill them with Kindness, you will be safer on the job.

“Kill them with kindness”—does that really work?

If you’ve been a nurse for any length of time, you’ve probably been given that advice. The reasoning behind it being, if we lavish extra attention on people who treat us disrespectfully, they might start to like us and stop treating us badly. That approach rarely ever works. In rare cases, it might work for you. But the aggression is usually just redirected towards someone else, like another provider. In that case you become the bully’s ally, simply legitimizing their aggressive behavior towards others.

We wouldn’t advise our kids to be subservient to their bullies, would we? Why not? Though the goal may be to win the bully over, the goals of a bully are simply to dominate, control, and objectify. We instinctively know that bullies cannot be placated by killing them with kindness. Yet it’s often the approach we take in healthcare, usually because we are unsure about what to do. When we are unskilled at setting limits, offering solutions, or making amends when we are truly in the wrong, we are almost assured of negative outcomes.

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Watch the video and share your thoughts, comments, and experiences in the comment section.

This is Joel Lashley’s third installment of his Seven Healthcare Myths Video Series entitled “Violence is just a part of the Job.”

Have you ever been told that violence is just part of the job?  What would your spouse, parent or child think if you went home and told them that accepting violent assaults on your job was a work requirement?  Does being accepting of violence keep people safer? If we accept violence into our lives we’re bound to get plenty of it. Violence is always unacceptable no matter where we work and we have to make that clear to everyone – patients and staff alike.

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What are your thoughts on this video?  Do you agree with its findings?  Comment below.

“Kill them with kindness”—does that really work?

If you’ve been a nurse for any length of time, you’ve probably been given that advice. The reasoning behind it being, if we lavish extra attention on people who treat us disrespectfully, they might start to like us and stop treating us badly. That approach rarely ever works. In rare cases, it might work for you. But the aggression is usually just redirected towards someone else, like another provider. In that case you become the bully’s ally, simply legitimizing their aggressive behavior towards others.

We wouldn’t advise our kids to be subservient to their bullies, would we? Why not? Though the goal may be to win the bully over, the goals of a bully are simply to dominate, control, and objectify. We instinctively know that bullies cannot be placated by killing them with kindness. Yet it’s often the approach we take in healthcare, usually because we are unsure about what to do. When we are unskilled at setting limits, offering solutions, or making amends when we are truly in the wrong, we are almost assured of negative outcomes.

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Instead, we should learn to discriminate between service recovery situations and anti-social or threatening behavior. We also need to be skilled at identifying people in genuine crisis. When people are cursing or yelling at us, or calling us names and otherwise treating us disrespectfully, simply lavishing extra attention on them sends the wrong messages. Messages such as, “It’s okay to treat us that way”, or worse yet, “Disrespecting me gets you what you want.” Perhaps the most dangerous message of all is, “I’m afraid and you can use that to control me.” This is the same sort of cycle that is present in all inter-personal cycles of violence, whether it’s a bullying situation or a domestic violence relationship. And when people are in crisis, we need to offer them privacy and support that is trauma informed and focused on our patients. That is perhaps the kindest thing we can do for them.

-Joel Lashley, author of Vistelar’s new book focused reducing violence and conflict in the healthcare environment. To get your own copy of the book, check it out on Amazon: http://amzn.com/0990910911

Hi Everyone. Robert Whiteside here.

Yesterday I arrived home, and was greeted by a package. Opening it, I found the new book entitled, Confidence in Conflict for Healthcare Professionals, by Joel Lashley. I can’t read it fast enough!

Joel has worked in Public Safety for over 3 decades and in healthcare security since 1991. He really knows his stuff, and this new book is outstanding. We highly recommend it for all of our healthcare security colleagues, clinical caregivers, and indeed any role which exists in healthcare facilities.
The book contains chapter after chapter of stories (which are so very effective in conveying teachings) as well as practical strategies, tactics, and tools including the Five Maxims, the Universal Greeting, Beyond Active Listening, Bystander Mobilization, and much more.
Joel mentions regulatory/accrediting agencies which, for those of us in healthcare security management, oversee our operations. These include The Joint Commission, OSHA, and the CDC. This is important, as any healthcare professional knows that our operations must meet various (often quite challenging) regulatory guidelines.
Another aspect of Joel’s book which we very much like is the presence of quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Individuals as varied as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Edmund Burke, Mahatma Ghandi, and Gary Klugiewicz are represented. What a table of folks with whom to have a conversation about getting along well with our fellow human beings!
This book is great. Every page gets better. It is a tool which will assist any healthcare professional to create (as Joel states), “environments of care that are less compatible with anti-social and aggressive behaviors, but also more compatible with patient collaboration and better patient outcomes.”
Obtain this book; implement its teachings; and improve the atmosphere and safety of your healthcare facility!