Do you know who’s who in your Hospital?

Unless you’re a frequent flyer at your hospital you’ve probably got no idea who’s who when it comes to determining who’s a doctor and who’s a nurse. Even I have trouble at times and I’m a nurse.

Think about it, the uniforms worn by health care professionals range from casually to smartly dressed doctors to a plethora of different uniforms amongst permanent, casual and agency nurses; all of whom have nonexistent to very little clear visible means of identification.

Of course, we all have identification cards that hang down near our navels, but so does everyone else, and, if you’re anything like me you need to get up close and personal to work out who the hell you’re talking to.

Just in case you’re wondering, I always introduce myself to the patients I care for and inform them what my role is first time around; which is normally followed by the words, “Care for a cuppa?” But! Occasionally I’ve had to say to patients, whilst the doctor looked on slightly embarrassed, “I’m not your doctor, I’m your nurse.”

This identification crisis wasn’t a problem in the 1970’s when nurses wore identical uniforms and doctors wore white coats; with patients knowing full well, who was who in the pecking order. While I’m on that, I can also remember being threatened to be hang, drawn and quartered by the St Vincent’s Hospital management team if ever I was caught wearing my nurses uniform out on the streets! How things have changed!

Yes, healthcare has come a long way in Australia since then but we seem to have lost the plot in regards to letting patients and visitors know who’s who in the hospital.

The current identification crisis in hospitals that has caused so much confusion and stress amongst patients, family members and visitors was recently brought up in the Garling Report. You may remember that I referred to this report sometime ago in my article titled, “Mixed-sex hospital wards”.

Commissioner Peter Garling makes a recommendation in his 2008 “Final Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in New South Wales (NSW) Public Hospitals” to remedy this crisis but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

It’s now almost twelve months since he outlined in recommendation 62 (Volume 2, Chapter 15, page 564 onwards © State of NSW through the Attorney General’s Department of NSW) that:

“Within 12 months, NSW Health implement a state-wide policy ensuring uniforms or vests are worn by each health professional, identifying in large print the role of the health professional. The state-wide policy should:

(a) Designate a colour to each professional role and ensure that the colour is consistently adopted;

(b) Include a requirement for posters to be prominently displayed throughout NSW Health facilities providing a chart to indicate which uniform or colour is assigned to which profession; and

(c) NSW Health amend existing policy or develop additional policy to require the wearing of name badges (or similar, but not cards on lanyards) by each type of health professional, bearing in large print the person’s name and title or role.”

and as far as I can see nothing has been done to improve the system he deemed inadequate.

So, where to from here? Do we go back to the good old days, or, considering the poor financial state of the Health System, act on the recommendations when times get better?

To delay it any further, is to only confuse and stress the ones we have been empowered to care for even more; an intolerable situation.

(1) Has your hospital got its act together? (2) Do you know who’s who in your hospital? (3) Please let me know your thoughts on this.

To be continued…