Working towards a safer and more sustainable NHS by innovating cost-effective solutions.
Patient real-life stories
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.
John, Patient
See what John has to say when he went into hospital for a hip replacement: John has played squash for 35 years and found he had to have a hip replacement. John explains he was listed for day surgery. On the morning of his op he was in a group of others, all very nervous as was he.
During admission there were various staff coming to check names and details of everyone. He states having had exceptional care but doesn't know who any of the clinicians he was engaging with i.e. surgeon, assistants, anaesthetist, physiotherapist also.
He says he had an amazing experience and 15 weeks on from the op feels wonderful however, he feels that things could have been better if he had known the names of the people who were looking after him and hats with names and roles would have been a great idea as he'd like to thank them.
Daniel, Birthing Partner
Please hear Daniel's harrowing story of the experience he had when his wife gave birth to their twins. Daniel explains that he looked identical to all the other staff in the room after changing into theatre scrubs.
Approximately 15 people were in the room at the time and due to staff being increasingly confused as to who he was, he was asked to stand at the other side of the theatre room, away from his wife and newborn babies.
Kim, Patient
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Read about Kim's experience for the first time in a theatre setting and her high anxiety with all things medical.
Kim explains how daunting it was and how after coming round from being anaesthetised, there were two clinicians; one wearing a named theatre hat, the other wearing standard disposable hat which most staff wore. Kim explains how she Immediately felt more comfortable towards the person wearing the named theatre hat which reduced her anxiety.
Kim also recalls the time when she had an emergency C section; her husband was with her obviously there were lots of people rushing around and nobody was identifiable because they all looked exactly the same. Kim firmly believes that all theatre staff should wear a name and role theatre hat so patients know who the clinicians are looking after them, so they feel more comfortable in such a terrifying situation.
Dr.Gillian Mcnab
Dr McNab is a Research Fellow and worked for University of Birmingham, currently working for the Demand Hub which enables small to medium companies in the healthcare field to look at the science behind their product getting it to market quicker.
Dr McNab has done extensive research into medical products and received feedback from various hospital clinicians to see the effects of wearing Warwick Med name and role hats. So please watch what was said about the reusable identifiable hats.
Dr.Mruga Diwan
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Dr Diwan is an Anaesthetist at The Royal, Liverpool Hospital and in this video, she explains her experience in 2019 when she was looking into recycling and sustainability for her department . Dr Diwan explained that she was approached by someone who asked if reusable caps would be something she would like to do, to which she said 'yes' to. Dr Diwan speaks about the plethora of fantastic reasons in switching to reusable theatre hats.
One of the many positive reasons to change from single use theatre hats to reusable, is the environmental impact as disposable caps are made of viscose which is associated with harmful chemicals and deforestation is required to get the raw material to make them.
Dr Diwan continues to say that Danielle gave her the idea of named reusable hats and this seemed a great idea because 70 per cent of critical incidents in the healthcare setting are due to miscommunication. She speaks about the importance of patients knowing who they are talking to and what their position in the theatre was.
“Being in theatre in an emergency situation, lots of people come together and you want to know who you're interacting with especially if you're the team leader to delegate roles appropriately”.
Dr Diwan then goes onto describe her first-hand experience of misidentifying a surgeon for an ODP and expresses that if these clinicians were wearing hats with name and roles on them at the time, this mishap wouldn’t have occurred
Adrian, Patient
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Listen to what Adrian has to say about the experience he had when he went into theatre back in 2008 having had a very rare liver tumour removed. Unfortunately, the tumours recurred and Adrian has had various treatments over the years.
Adrian speaks of the importance of lowering the barriers and hierarchy between patient and physician. He also expressed the difficulties of remembering the clinician’s names and that this can easily be achieved by physicians wearing a named hat, to ease patients' anxieties.
Rita, Patient
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Meet Rita who has been an emergency patient rushed into theatre.
Just seeing around 15 theatre staff all looking similar, wearing the same-coloured gowns and masks, and not knowing who anyone was. This was particularly important to Rita’s experience because although she was give an anaesthetic, she could still feel the pain and when she tried to explain this to the staff, she wasn’t listened to.
At the end of the procedure, she explained the situation to a member of staff in the room and they explained that she was informing the wrong person!!! Because everyone looked EXACTLY THE SAME, Rita didn’t have a clue who she needed to communicate with about her pain so her experience wasn’t very pleasant!
Rita says she believes that staff wearing name and role headwear would alleviate patient anxiety and to know their actual role within the theatre is very important.
