Hospital Trusts
Excerpts from: Information for Trusts collated by Mrs Scarlett McNally from the Royal College of Surgeons
The issues
- Theatre staff may not know or remember each other’s names
- Theatre staff may mistake what role another staff member is carrying out - many make assumptions about what another’s role is.
- Theatre staff may feel literally “nameless and faceless” despite working in the operating theatres for a number of years. They can feel they lose their identity. The identical uniform and disposable hat may reinforce their factory-worker feeling, which contrasts with the passion and individuality they feel for their role. They may feel burnt out or despondent having to explain their role to every new member of staff, or have their name forgotten if they have not worked with someone for a number of weeks.
- Patients within the theatre environment do not know who is who. They may have met the surgeon and anaesthetist on the ward, but might not recognise them when the staff are all in identical uniforms and the patient has been deprived of hearing aids, contact lenses and/or spectacles.
- Disposable hats go to landfill, creating more waste.
- Ensuring a supply of disposable hats currently incurs issues with supply, delivery, transportation, ordering and cost for each hospital. The NHS has a large environmental impact and measures to improve sustainability should be considered. Getting your hospital trusts on board with thisb idea can benefit you, your co-workers and your patients ijn tremendous ways.
The benefits
There is increasing evidence that teams work better if people know that having a name and role displayed on their theatre cap is effective, as the #TheatreCapChallenge (Hackett, 2018).
Other literature has focussed on the teams working better if people know each other’s name and role (Leonard et al, 2014, Bobb et al, 2017).
Patient safety may be improved if there is no doubt about name and role, especially with changes of personnel during an operation or in an emergency.
Some studies show theatre staff forget 30-50% of names even after briefing (Birnbach et al, 2017; Burton et al, 2018).
Having clarity about the expectations for each student or staff member increases respect and reduces bullying (RACS, 2016).
Education may be improved if staff know a person’s role, eg identifying a medical student.
To read the full document click here: https://www.psnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TheatreCapChallenge-info-for-Trusts-SMcN-1.2.19.docx
If you would like to obtain identifier TheatreCaps for yourself or your team then check out our website TheatreCaps.com
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