Hospital PPE: the badges that show the human face of healthcare in the pandemic
Whittington Hospital want badges will improve patients’ healthcare experience
Nurses are sporting stick-on badges to show the face behind the mask and make PPE (personal protective equipment) appear less daunting for patients.
The stickers, which are being offered to all patient-facing staff at Whittington Health NHS Trust in London, bear the staff member’s first name, job title and a photo of them smiling.
Previously, all staff wore a ‘Hello my name is’ badge, taking inspiration from the #Hellomynameis campaign by the late doctor Kate Granger to encourage staff to introduce themselves during every patient contact.
Whittington Hospital want badges will improve patients’ healthcare experience
Nurses are sporting stick-on badges to show the face behind the mask and make PPE (personal protective equipment) appear less daunting for patients.
The stickers, which are being offered to all patient-facing staff at Whittington Health NHS Trust in London, bear the staff member’s first name, job title and a photo of them smiling.
Previously, all staff wore a ‘Hello my name is’ badge, taking inspiration from the #Hellomynameis campaign by the late doctor Kate Granger to encourage staff to introduce themselves during every patient contact.
But these badges are difficult to see under aprons or gowns, so the trust used a template shared by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust to make the new stickers.
Seeing the person behind the PPE
Whittington Health quality improvement lead Paula Ryeland said it can be daunting for patients when faced with a member of staff in full PPE.
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‘You can’t see a smile or any facial expressions and it is very hard to recognise anyone,’ she said.
‘We want to enable patients to see the person behind the PPE, and see who is looking after them. We hope that this will help patients see what the staff member looks like, and to envisage them smiling at them.’
Improving the care experience for patients
Hospitals across the UK have come up with innovative ways to improve communication between patients and staff while wearing PPE during the pandemic.
Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in King’s Lynn, Norfolk has put up staff identification boards on wards to help patients identify the person behind the mask, while staff at Salford Royal's paediatric emergency assessment unit added cartoon characters to their visors to put young patients at ease.
Read more about how to support anxious patients
- Anxious and agitated: how to help a nervous patient
- CPD article: Managing patients’ anxiety about planned medical interventions
In other news
- Mental health prison nurse dies of COVID-19
- Will there be a COVID bonus for NHS staff, prime minister?
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