Not so digital

OK, so encouraged by my facilitator Mr Creelman and wonderful group member Nour I would like to share a story and an idea for badges with you. It is not digital, it is simple, it is cheap (in a good way) and most of all it works.

A friend of mine is a nurse and works as a care developer. Some of her work includes implementation of guidelines. As a result of this she needed to promote and highlight some topics; nutrition, prevention of injures like fall and ulcer. The whole design of the intervention was less formal. Her ambition was actually to get her colleagues to talk and discuss the different topics. She had set up several stations, at the ward, for the nurses. During the day they could stroll along the corridor and pop in at a station and take part in an education or a discussions group. As an evidence of their participation she gave them a colored paper clip to attach on the uniform (green for nutrition/education, red for ulcer/discussion, blue for prevention of fall injures/discussion ect.)

At lunchtime those nurses who had not kept pace with the others flocked around the stations wanting to participate but most of all get the paper clips in the right colors. What happened next was even more surprisingly – the doctors at the ward started to ask about the paper clips. Why had all the nurses colored paper clips on their uniforms? What did the paper clips stand for? How could they get colored paper clips of their own?

Those patients who were able to mobilize to a station learned about for instance; how to prevent fall when coming home. Even relatives participated in the intervention. They all got colored paper clips.

At the end of the day the the entire workforce including some patients and relatives wore colored paper clip at their uniforms or clothes. The colored paper clips was a sign of their participation in a learning intervention but also a sign of simple motivation.