Indigenous art-themed personalised theatre caps improve patient perioperative experience and perceived staff communication in the operating theatre: a quality improvement project at Royal Darwin Hospital in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Personalised theatre caps have been shown to improve staff communication in the operating theatre. The impact of these caps on the patient perioperative experience, particularly in Indigenous Australian patients, has not been well established.

METHODOLOGY: Surgical patients and operating theatre staff at Royal Darwin Hospital in Australia were surveyed before and after the introduction of Indigenous art-themed personalised (name and role) theatre caps in October 2021 and January 2022. Staff name and role visibility in operating theatres was also audited.

RESULTS: A total of 223 staff and patients completed surveys. Most patients reported the theatre caps to be helpful (90%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 81-99) and felt more comfortable because staff were wearing them (91%, 95% CI 82-100). These results were consistent across Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients. The majority of staff agreed that personalised name and role theatre caps improved staff communication (89%, 95% CI 81-97), improved the staff-patient interaction (77%, 95% CI 67-87), and made it easier to use staff names (100%). Staff name and role visibility increased from 8 to 51% (p < 0.001) after the introduction of personalised theatre caps.

CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of Indigenous art-themed personalised theatre caps for operating theatre staff at Royal Darwin Hospital improved perceived staff communication and the patient perioperative experience.