Saint Elizabeth Uniform Redesign

Saint Elizabeth Health Care (SE) and George Brown College’s School of Fashion Studies and Centre for Health Sciences are collaborating on an interdisciplinary project, 4UbyU Uniform Development, to design, prototype and test new uniform options for home and community health care workers. SE is a not-for-profit and charitable organization that places an emphasis on social innovation and breakthrough clinical practices. They have a team of 6,000 nurses, rehabilitation therapists, personal support workers and crisis intervention staff who deliver nearly five million health care visits annually. SE recently implemented a uniform requirement policy for their front line staff. While the decision to move to uniforms will improve branding, standards of care and client experience, there are challenges to providing uniforms that address on-the-job conditions and that will be accepted among staff. Sizes, fits, cuts, colours and style are all factors that affect adoption, and the design challenge is made more complex by the myriad workplace and environmental factors that exist in delivering home and community care. As personnel move between locations throughout their working days, uniforms must be comfortable, allow for all the necessary body movements for care delivery, and avoid the absorption of odours and moisture. The uniforms must also provide a professional and consistent look that will identify SE’s staff. The outcomes of the project are to implement the GBC uniform as the standard SE front line worker uniform, as well as to assess the possibility of commercializing the uniforms for sale in various health care settings. The work plan includes: researching, designing, prototyping two (2) female and initiating the development of two (2) male uniforms; field usability assessment of the prototypes; and a report to SE. The GBC team includes Principal Investigator Christina Yu, Professor, Fashion Studies, and Co-Investigator Sally Choi, Manager, Inter-professional Learning Clinic, Centre for Health Sciences.