-Poor training. Paladin provides the bare minimum training which will put you in the general mindset of what to expect on the job, but you will more than likely be completely overwhelmed without a supportive team that will actually train you when you arrive at your site.
The Paladin trainer we had tried his best to give is an idea of what we were going to go through and what kind of situations we could expect on the site but it is 10x worse on the job.
-If the team your put with does not provide additional training for you, you will find yourself heavily unprepared and in immense danger of getting seriously hurt as some teams don’t care to train their new guards properly.
-If you’re new you will be doing patient watches (static guard) 12 hours of watching patients, in which you’re recording their activities in a book. this is extremely
mind numbing and boring and you can be in this position for months or even longer depending if there are core spots open or not
- If you are seeking experience you need to try and get into the Core Team, this is where you actually gain experience and get to do stuff. To get into the core team there needs to be an open spot, and even then a more experienced static guard may get that spot before you do. Core guards work hand in hand with Peace officers, responding to calls, processing new patients under the mental health act (I work in a Hospital in Alberta). As this is how you get the most experience, this is also where you are subject to the most danger. I have been working in healthcare for about 5 months now and I have been a core guard for about 4 months as I got lucky and got a open spot relatively fast. And in these few months in core, I have been in countless hands on situations, placed incredibly aggressive patients in hospital restraints dozens of times, been scratched at spat at, kicked, punched, and verbally assaulted beyond my imagination.
You need to ensure you have a supportive team and I have not been injured yet due to always having backup when responding to situations and appropriately requesting additional officers when things begin to escalate. There have been so many opportunities to get seriously injured that this job is not worth risking your life for unless you genuinely are serious about a career in law enforcement. I know many peace officer’s that were former Paladins in healthcare.
-Paladin does not do enough to prepare you for the job. You need to rely on your team to train you while you’re learning on the job which can be incredibly overwhelming and can lead to getting seriously hurt which is the biggest con.
-If you’re reading this review and you’re in the process of becoming a healthcare guard in Alberta , I urge you to learn the Alberta Mental Health Act in which the majority of patients you deal with are certified under a form of the act. This will define much of the authorities of what you can and can’t do. I also urge you to learn basic radio etiquette, we get. too many casuals who are too nervous to properly communicate over the radio of what is happening during a situation. Also be comfortable speaking to people, especially aggressive one’s and knowing when to be assertive, difficult patients will disregard what you’re saying if you seem nervous, be comfortable and confident with your interactions.
-Don’t take work home with you. You will see some harrowing thing’s in be out in very difficult situations that will stick with you, which can be very difficult to deal with. Talking to your teammates about this can be really good as they are the only ones that understand what you’re going through, as your family and friends will not get it at all. Seriously I have on several occasions been in situations where all hell let loose and after dealing with the situation professionally and feeling fine, after getting home all the emotions would hit me and it would be a struggle to deal with. Be careful as if you do not deal with the stress of work, it can be very mentally debilitating for your health.
My biggest tip that genuinely will be the key for you to become a great asset to the team.
-ASK QUESTIONS
Ask to get a tour of your site so that you can learn it (difficult to learn if you’re doing patient watches)
but once you become core that is essential.
Pester your team about what they would do in certain situations and how they would respond, this is amazing for preparing you for when sh*t hits the fan. Also mentally preparing yourself by imagining all sorts of situations and scenarios that occur and how you would respond to them is key to successfully defusing situations without you freezing up.
