Are Named Hats Important ?
Operating theatre hats, also known as surgical caps or scrub caps, are an essential piece of equipment for healthcare professionals...
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Some Trusts claim that 'using the washable items' presents an infection risk, but in most cases these policies are long outdated.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.
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: