Theatre cap challenge: ODP’s, nurses, midwives, doctors and others get involved across the globe!

Follow the link to watch this video by Rob Beckett talking about the theatre cap challenge and human factors at work in theatres:

 

Writing your name on your uniform to avoid mix-ups is undoubtedly a sensible move. It’s a little hard to imagine how something so simple could help save lives. 

But when Australian anaesthetist Dr Rob Hackett wrote his name on his scrub cap to avoid confusion in the operating theatre, he started a movement that is slowly changing medicine.

Dr Hackett said some people were derisive at first, highlighting the leadership challenges around service improvement at grassroots level:

There were some side remarks, like ‘can’t you remember your own name?’

Now, many staff are embracing the idea internationally, as it can save vital seconds in life and death situations.

The Royal College of Surgeons said it could also combat unconscious bias, stopping people who do not look like “traditional” surgeons being mistaken for other staff.

Dr Hackett said:

Last Friday I went to a cardiac arrest in a theatre where there were about 20 people in the room.

I struggled to even ask to be passed some gloves because the person I was pointing to thought I was pointing to the person behind them.

It’s so much easier to coordinate when you know everyone’s names. It’s great for camaraderie and it’s great for patients as well.

#TheatreCapChallenge is taking over medical Twitter.

Alison Brindle, a student midwife in the UK, came up with the hashtag and it is really making waves!