We talked about the foundation principles of concealment in part two
and how to make your gun conceal under scrubs without printing,
but no setup is ever 100 perfect so in this section we're going to talk about visual
and social camouflage techniques that'll help to support your concealment basics.
The first visual camouflage tactic is super easy just tuck in a tank top or camisole over your gun,
not only does it slightly smooth the outline of your gun and prevent your clothing from sticking
to it, it also protects you from being spotted if your shirt happens to ride up.
It's not going to make your gun completely invisible of course, but it will make it harder
to determine at a glance that you're carrying a gun especially if you choose a dark base
color and a matte fabric which tends to absorb light and reduces the visual impact of a gun.
Tucking a shirt over your gun shouldn't really affect your draw time that much because when you
clear your cover garment you should be grabbing tight enough to clear both garments at the same
time anyway. You do definitely want to practice this regularly. Next up is scrub selection,
and you know if you work in healthcare you don't always get to choose your scrubs, you don't
always get your choice of colors or fits, and sometimes you don't get any choices at all. If you
do buy your own scrubs of course you can choose concealment friendly styles. Choose tops that draw
attention away from the waist like interesting necklines, patterns, interesting sleeves,
or different cuts that draw the eye up away from your waist rather than down. Sometimes your scrubs
are provided by the hospital and you don't have a choice and in that case just make sure you get
an appropriate size to fit you and make sure that they're sized big enough to take advantage of some
of that fabric drape. Obviously you don't want to look sloppy but you want to have enough room to
avoid giving away the fact that you have a gun. You can also try positioning your gun
behind a pocket using that extra layer of loose fabric to visually disguise any trouble spots in
your concealment. If your department policy allows it, add interesting pieces of flair
or different hairstyles makeup or jewelry to draw the eye up to your face. It also helps a lot to
wear your name tag up at your neckline instead of down at your waist. The next thing I want to talk
about is social camouflage. When we talk about concealment the visible signature of the gun
is really only half the equation. There's a whole second aspect to concealment that's all about
perception. How can you tell someone is carrying a gun? You maybe notice a shape that doesn't belong
like a corner where there should be a curve, or a line where it should be smooth. Your brain takes
that visual input and interprets it along with other context cues and makes an educated guess
about what that object is. Is it a gun? Is it a phone? Is it a back brace? Is it a sandwich? A
big part of having good concealment has to do with influencing those context cues and social factors
and making them go in the direction you want them to go. People's perception is
heavily influenced by what they expect to see or feel, so proactively managing their expectations
helps shape their perception. You want to make it so that when people look at you
they don't jump straight to gun if they notice something odd. For example a little weirdness in
somebody's clothing drape is a lot less alarming if you've already noticed that they have a back
injury or that they're wearing a medical alert bracelet. You still see the odd drape but instead
of thinking gun your brain plugs that information into where it seems to make sense. So if you look
like an off-duty cop they may plug that odd corner into the gun spot of the brain. If you look like
somebody's grandmother they might plug that same info into the insulin pump category instead. While
you can't change your physical attributes you can change your style, your mannerisms, and your body
language to conform to what people expect to see. How you do that is going to be really individual
but it's definitely worth thinking about what cues can you give to lead people to easy assumptions
when you're standing around in the hallway. Do you look like you're standing at parade rest or do you
look relaxed and natural and non-threatening? Also think a little bit about being proactive
when you're in a challenging concealment scenario. What kinds of proactive things
can you do to focus people's attention away from your gun and towards where you want it to go?
So for example say you need to stand in front of a patient in a wheelchair and help them to stand.
Are you going to just stand there and let them stare at your waist or are you going to talk to
them about where you need them to go and use your body language to direct their focus to
the task you need them to do? Being proactive and managing expectations takes practice, confidence,
and self-discipline. If you're afraid that you're printing your first instinct might be to reach
down and adjust your shirt but people's eyes tend to follow your hands so bringing your hands down
to your waistline will actually make them more likely to notice you. Instead, what you want to
do is practice small mannerisms and hand motions that draw people's eyes up to your face. If you
reach up to adjust your glasses, for example, most people's eyes will follow your hands up and
if you become adept at redirecting attention your overall concealment is going to improve.
One of the absolute best ways to socially camouflage your gun is to make interesting
conversation. Show genuine interest in your patients and your co-workers. If you can engage
people in a great conversation their attention is going to be on the conversation and not on what
you're wearing or carrying. The last thing we're going to cover is how to handle physical touch.
The nice thing about appendix carry is that your gun is almost always within your field of view,
and it's also not socially acceptable to touch other people's stomachs or groins, and hugs
generally don't involve hip to hip contact. For patient contact being proactive really helps.
When you lift or transfer a patient proactively manage where their arms are going to go. Tell
them where to hold on to prevent them from grabbing you around the waist and if they
can't communicate verbally use your body language to direct them as best you can. Whenever you can
make sure your patient has something to hang on to like a walker or railing so they don't try to grab
you for balance, and this is best practice anyway both for your safety and theirs but it also helps
with your concealment as well. Think one step ahead and keep their attention focused one step
ahead instead of on you. With physical touch again being proactive and having a plan helps a lot.
You want to have a plausible explanation for what people might be feeling if they bump your gun. One
thing you can do is carry objects in your pockets that you can highlight if somebody bumps you.
If you think a patient may have bumped your gun you don't necessarily need to say anything to them
sometimes just pulling your phone or pager out of your pocket and checking it will provide enough of
an explanation for what they've felt to influence their perception. Just a word of warning though,
if you do carry objects in your pockets just make sure they're not going to make noise if they do
end up hitting your gun. With social camouflage keep it light, keep it easy,
and keep it plausible. You don't need to invent elaborate lies, you just need to make it easy for
people to make the assumptions you want them to make. So keep your redirection simple manageable
and as close to the truth as possible. All right so we've gone all the way through risk assessment
to concealment fundamentals to practical advice for caring at work and now all that's left is
to practice your concealment skills until you achieve confidence. Confidence doesn't just come
from time, confidence comes from quality time. So practice these skills until they're second nature
get really confident in your concealment and go out in the world and be safe. Thanks for watching!