Surgical caps

Nine patterns

The designs are whales, dinosaurs and volcanoes, dinosaurs and bats, stars and planets, unicorns, rabbits, blue with rabbits, flowers and leaves. Several were chosen with paediatric work in mind: a pattern gives a child something to talk about in a setting where everything else is masks and equipment.

The adult-neutral designs — leaves and flowers — work equally well in outpatient clinics, dentistry and veterinary practice as in theatre.

Washable instead of disposable

The caps are machine washed and used again and again. For a department going through disposables daily this is both a cost and a waste question; for the individual member of staff it is more often about fit, and about not wearing a cap that slides during the shift.

A washable cap also becomes personal in a way a disposable never can. Many people carry their own between wards and workplaces, which makes the pattern a marker of recognition among colleagues — and often the first thing an anxious patient comments on.

To complete the theatre setup, see disposable gloves, and for clinic and emergency use, wound care.