MCR/SAR Training Manager Tom McGahan Holds a MAPA Training Day at St. James’s Hospital
MCR Operations and Training Manager, Tom McGahan, recently provided MAPA training to SAR Patient Support Officers working at St James’s Hospital.
The “Patient Support Officer” (PSO) initiative is a training programme specifically designed for healthcare and security staff in Ireland, allowing them to develop skills that are required to carry out security functions in any healthcare setting.
Pictured: Training Manager Tom McGahan providing MAPA training at St. James’s Hospital.
This training programme was launched by Ronnie Weston (SAR Group), John Magee (Cavan Institute) and Alan Buckley (St James’s Hospital Dublin), in March 2017. This agreement signed by the co-developers is aimed to develop & deliver certified training programmes to meet the skill needs within the security services of SAR Group’s Healthcare Clients. The course is the first of it’s kind in Ireland.
Pictured: Monday March 20th 2017, launched the partnership of SAR Group Ireland, the Cavan Institute and St. James’s Hospital with the signing of a consortium agreement to research, design, develop & co-deliver certified training programmes to meet the skill needs within the security services at St. James’s Hospital
MAPA Training
Where patients may display challenging behaviours, we train our officers in MAPA – Management of Actual or Potential Aggression. MAPA Training encourages staff to deal with aggression in a calm and safe way. There are 2 levels of the MAPA Training; foundation and advanced. The foundation course enables staff to identify behaviour that may indicate an escalation towards aggression, and therefore take the necessary measures to avoid these situations. The advanced course is more suitable for organisations who work with individuals whose behaviour may be higher risk. It enables staff to identify these risks and intervene appropriately, without putting anyone in unnecessary danger.
The initiative has proven to be hugely successful in our contracts, particularly in St. James’s Hospital. Clients have reported less anti-social behaviour as a direct result of the MAPA training. When necessary, vulnerable patients are attended to by a PSO which allows nursing staff more time to assist other patients. The PSO initiative has also proved to reduce injuries to healthcare assistants and ward staff. We currently supply PSOs on a full-time basis to St. James’s Hospital and University Hospital Waterford.
