Are Named Hats Important ?
Operating theatre hats, also known as surgical caps or scrub caps, are an essential piece of equipment for healthcare professionals...
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LEADING THE CHANGE
Warwick Med is leading the change from disposable theatre caps to reusable “name and role” cloth hats. These are already boosting staff morale and reducing patients’ anxiety as they enable everyone to identify the people around them, quickly and easily.
THE POSITIVES
“The biggest difference I noticed was on Monday when people addressed me by my name a lot more than usual” “The team huddle is all well and good in the morning, but I don’t remember everyone’s names and if we had named caps for everyone that would be great” Dr Mruga Diwan, Royal Liverpool
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to improve communication among healthcare professionals and patients by sharing best practice and promoting the many benefits of our eco-friendly, personalised caps.
SUSTAINABLE
In 2022, just under 111,000,000 ( one hundred and eleven million ) disposable hats reached landfill sites !
Discussions about the importance of environment for the patient's health and well-being and the provision and support of healthcare extends at least as far back as 400 BC with Hippocrates and the 19th Century Florence Nightingale. For a patient, seeing a total stranger can be quite a daunting prospect, especially when the clinician is wearing a mask/hat resulting in only a pair of eyes being seen.
In many hospitals, the standard protocol is to throw away disposable hats, so staff may be unfamiliar with the idea of taking them home to wash. Some Trusts claim that 'using the washable items' presents an infection risk, but in most cases these policies are long outdated. After all, staff in all other areas of hospitals safely wash their own uniforms, so why should theatre caps be any different?
The purpose of this review was to gather information from NHS hospital staff who have implemented or are planning to implement wearing cloth hats in the Theatre environment. The company wanted to explore the end user’s experience in the instigation and utilisation of cloth caps compared to disposable hats and demonstrate that they work well and pose no increase in infection rates or cross contamination.
What kind of laundering do you use ?
To help you understand about your options, please look at the different types of laundering , each once has its own advantages, regardless they are all saving the environment, reducing medical errors and boosting staff and patient morale.
IN HOUSE LAUNDERED
If your hospital has benefits from in-house laundry, then both our badge and embroidered hats are an option. The great benefits of our badge hats is that if staff leave or move onto another role then the hat is still able to be used by other staff members as the badge is removed prior to washing. Our badge hats are the preferred choice as this is the most sustainable choice when comparing to disposable and our embroidered range.
More information coming soon
LAUNDERED AT HOME
If your hospital doesn't have their own in-house laundry and don't have access to commercial laundering then your choices are similar to the in-house laundered options. Make sure you to order enough hats to get you through your week and accommodate taking them home to wash.
More information coming soon
COMMERICAL
LAUNDERED
Most hospitals have their scrubs commercially laundered. This helps to ensure there is always enough and they are always washed after every use. We are working with laundry companies to bring this option to your hospitals in the near future.
More information coming soon
AM I WORTH THIS ?
Maria Koijck is an autonomous artist, who has dedicated herself to increasing awareness, of the contamination of the earth, by making unique and remarkable sculptures and videos, from litter and used plastics.
Demonstrating the masses of waste in a unique and eye-catching way, will hopefully strike a chord with people, so that they realise the detriment of the throw away society we have become, to try to influence positive changes.
Maria created this amazing video to demonstrate the vast number of plastic products, which was used in her very own operation. Maria had a breast reconstruction following a mastectomy. The procedure took ten hours and 15 people were involved: this is the result of the waste created by this one procedure.
AWARDS 2022
The North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards recognised outstanding work to improve health and care and find new and innovative ways to deliver services. We were kindly invited to attend the Northwest Coast Research and Innovation Awards 2022 at Edge Hill University. Liverpool University Hospital asked us to go along due to working so closely with them in implementing our embroidered theatre caps and I am delighted to say that this project won the SUSTAINABILITY AWARD 2022:
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PATIENT & STAFF FEEDBACK
As a part of our extensive research and product development, we have real-life interviews from patients who share their experiences and
staff who have either bought or trialled our name & role cloth hats.
Dr.Mruga Diwan,
Royal Liverpool
“Double thumbs up, comfortable and environmentally friendly and in scenarios where we may be working with different teams i.e., in resus, on arrests on the ward etc, it improves communication”.
Kim, Patient
Adrain, Patient
Daniel, Birthing Partner
Dr.Gillian Mcnab
Rita, Patient
Lindsay Quinn,
Fife Hospital
“The colourful hats brighten up the department. Surgeons and patients appreciate the fact that these include the medics’ names and abbreviated roles, for example ODP or ODSW.
Dr.Mruga Diwan,
Royal Liverpool
“The team huddle is all well and good in the morning, but I don’t remember everyone’s names and if we had named caps for everyone that would be great” “It’s a good idea and helps to identify who is who”.
Dr.Mruga Diwan
Our Mission hasn't changed
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