Wipe clean photo badges to use when wearing PPE to help put patients more at ease.
Click here to see how to get a CoveEyeDee
Why COV-ID?
COVID-19 patients may be very ill; they are in unfamiliar surroundings and away from their loved ones.
Part of the care we provide is emotional support; personal contact is SO important, healthcare is a human endeavour.
But the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) we need to wear gets in the way.
Our patients cannot see our faces, our touch is impeded by wearing two or three pairs of gloves and our voices are muffled by masks. All of this contributes to their feeling of anxiety.
COV-IDs were born to try to help a little.
Wearing a COV-ID makes it easy for patients to see the name, the role and a lovely smiley photo of the person caring for them, this helps remove the barrier of the PPE, helps us better connect with patients.
What is a COV-ID?
It is non-official ID style badge that shows your name, your role and has a smiling photo of you. It was designed to be easy to read at a distance.
It comes with a clip to attach to the front of your PPE gown/apron when you are donning and is laminated to allow easy decontamination when doffing; as it is not your official ID, it can be left in a covid-red zone.
How do I get my #CoveEyeDee?
If you are a UK based healthcare worker wearing all of the PPE and one of these IDs would help your patients, please get in touch with me and I will do my utmost to get one to you free of charge. I’m making them in my study when I am not on duty in critical care, so it may take a few days depending on demand. There is no charge to you.
DM on Twitter: @CoveEyeDee
E-mail: CoveEyeDee@gmail.com
Send me:
- Name (first name)
- Role (simple is better, key is is to help put patients at ease)
- Lovely smiley photo of you.
- A full name/postal address where you would like me to send your #CoveEyeDee (This can be at home or work)
I will be posting images of the COV-IDs (like those at the top of this page) I produce to share how the project is progressing. If you would prefer for yours not to be included, please let me know.
How can I help support the COV-ID project?
If you are able to contribute to the costs of creating/supplying COV-IDs please visit the GoFundMe page here.
How can I make these for my team?
CoveEyeDee 1.0 & 2.0
Since the middle of May, CoveEyeDee 2.0 are being produced using a specialist plastic oversized ID card printer. This results in a larger (on right hand side) CoveEyeDee that does not require separating out, laminating, hole punching. Production is much quicker and the card produced seems very durable.
This section describes how #CoveEyeDee 1.0 were made. Thankfully it is not rocket science!
The major thing is you need is a Colour Printer (with ink/toner)
The other stuff:
Laminator
I already had a Swordfish SuperSlim A4 laminator (Amazon UK don’t have any stock of these at present).
These appear to be similar. Texet (LMA4-V) A4 Laminator or Bonsaii A4 A5 Laminator
If you are planning on producing a lot of #CoveEyeDee s, you may consider something more professional like the Swordfish Hyperspeed A3 Paper/Document Laminator
(Note: I have no personal experience of these laminators so I cannot endorse them, only share my views)
A7 Laminator Pouches
The “plastic” pouches used to encase the IDs, this makes the IDs wipeable, very important for infection control.
Laminator Hole Punch
Used to punch a suitable slot in the laminated card to take the attachment clips. You can use a ‘normal’ single hole punch and punch two adjacent holes, but it is not as effective. I pass the ID thru the laminator again after punching the slot to ensure that it is sealed
Clips
The clip is used to attach the ID to the front of your PPE gown. Originally I was using a clip that attached to the neckline, but I realised that this may compromise infection control when doffing as you needed to reach up the edge of your PPE to remove the ID, with the risk of touching your skin.
A7 Cards
I was originally using A4 pages and slicing them up with a paper guillotine, but it was slow!
These Index Cards, A7 are 8 to an A4 sized sheet and can be easily separated (due to their perforations) and are much more effective!
Smiley Photos
No need for a “professional” photography setup. I’m getting individuals to send me a photograph via twitter or email. A smile is key, a lighter background is better. It’s nice to see the person’s eyes, so sunglasses are out. Ideally, people send a photo that is not in uniform, it helps with the “human” touch.
Design
I’ve more years working in IT then I care to admit, combined with a love of photography and graphic design I’ve become … handy at this sort of thing.
The key design goals were to make it simple and visible.
Over the past few years (the time I trained and am now practicing as a nurse) I’ve noted that it is often difficult for patients to know who is caring for them. I’ve refined a personal name badge so they know who I am. The choice of typeface/font was key in ensuring that it can be easily seen.
After a lot of research, I selected Overpass.
Overpass is a font based on that designed for US highway signs , “created to maximize legibility at a distance and at high speed”. #CoveEyeDee badges use the Overpass Bold font. Overpass is available free in OTF and TTF formats.
Having used many “photoshop” style apps, I’ve landed on Affinity Photo, it is amazing powerful and not too expensive. It runs on Macs (My platform of choice) and Windows.
Affinity have generously made the app available free for 90 days (And offer a 50% discount if you purchase it … only £23.99) Affinity – Supporting the creative community
I am happy to supply a copy of the Affinity design file I created, please get in touch.
If you have the equipment to produce COV-IDs, but the graphic design side is an impediment, please get in touch, I would be able to assemble the names/roles/images and send you back a PDF to print/slice/laminate.
How To video
If I can be of any help with getting you creating them yourself, please get in touch.