While wearing a mask, face shield, and other protective clothing keeps healthcare workers safe from the coronavirus, it does little to comfort the patients they are treating.
When a patient is alone and ill at the hospital, seeing someone come up to them dressed head to toe in PPE, can be quite scary. It’s like a robot has come to treat them, when in reality there’s someone who cares underneath all that garb.
Robertino Rodriguez, a respiratory therapist, wanted to make sure his patients felt a little more at ease when he visited them in the emergency room at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California. So, he came up with a brilliant solution.
“A reassuring smile makes a big difference to a scared patient,” he wrote on Instagram.
After Rodriguez posted the photo, other healthcare workers joined him and created their own badges to let patients know there was a smiling face underneath all the PPE.
It’s a welcome change from seeing a masked person.
The badges show a smiling healthcare worker along with their name and/or job title.
As for how long Rodriguez will continue to wear his special badge…
“I will continue to wear [the badge] until I don’t have to wear a mask,” Rodriguez told Unilad. “More of my colleagues and other healthcare workers are now doing it too and I’m getting photos from other healthcare workers around the country who were inspired by my photo.
Brilliant! Being in the hospital is already a scary enough experience. Now, imagine having multiple people come up to you wearing PPE and you can’t see the expression on their face.
Thank you Robertino for making a change for your patients! I hope other follow in your footsteps.
