Personalised Theatre Hats

Date awarded: June 2021
Awarded value: £20,000
Fund: COVID-19 donations
Location: Fife-wide

Personalised theatre hats enabling patients to know the name of the person behind all the PPE.

Working in a busy operating theatre means you might not know who you are on shift with, as colleagues change on a day to day basis, specialist surgeons work only some days and not others, and nurses and operating department technicians work across multiple operating theatres. So how do you communicate under pressure, with the colleague opposite you, who’s name you don’t know and who’s face will be difficult to see, given a mask, possibly glasses and a head covering?

This was exactly the problem that Lindsay Quinn, Operating Department Practitioner based at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, sought to solve when she had the bright idea to put her colleagues’ names on their theatre hats. The idea, like all the best ideas, was a simple one, but very effective.

This simple innovation enables clinical staff working in theatres to see at a glance the names of those they are working alongside, and perhaps even more importantly, identify their individual role within the theatre team.

The hats also benefit patients too as patients are often disorientated when coming around after sedation. The hats mean that they can have the reassurance of being able to address the staff caring for them by name.

In total around 450 staff working in Fife’s theatres have now been issued with personalised caps for use during operating procedures.