Giving Patients More Dignity

MEDICAL UNDERGARMENTS TO COVER GENITALIA AND BUTTOCKS significantly increase patient satisfaction levels for surgery patients.

The newer approach of wearing undergarments to surgery appears to lower anxiety about the exposure of one’s body in a medical setting, according to a recently reported randomized clinical trial.

For all my four decades in the medical profession, patients removed all clothing and put on a hospital-provided gown. Many patients have anxiety and stress when they expose their bodies in a medical setting.

Medical undergarments during surgery

Researchers from Arizona (USA) randomly assigned patients at an orthopedic hospital: Half of the patients received a standard-of-care gown versus a standard-of-care gown and a releasable waistband.

Researchers collected preoperative and postoperative surveys from patients evaluating their anxiety levels about exposing their bodies in a medical setting. Here are the survey-based study results:

A substantial proportion of surgical patients had exposure-related stress or anxiety. Medical undergarments to cover their buttocks and genitalia significantly improved patient satisfaction.

And now, the details for the 200 patients undergoing orthopedic surgery:

• Uncomfortable with exposure. Thirty-one percent reported being uncomfortable exposing intimate body parts in a medical center.
• Stress and anxiety. Twenty-two percent reported stress or anxiety related to body exposure.
• Personal modesty. Fifty-four percent reported that “protecting personal modesty is important when undergoing surgery.”

Does all of this translate into patient satisfaction? Eighty-seven percent of patients in the undergarment group (versus 73 percent in the stand-of-care group) offered that the provided garments met their privacy expectations.

Of the undergarment group members, 39 percent appeared satisfied with the hospital garments. Only 18 percent of the patients in the standard garment group strongly agreed with the statement that they were satisfied with the provided garments.

Finally, those in the undergarment group appeared three times more likely to indicate that the hospital-provided garments would influence their hospital choice.

Should hospitals consider offering specially-designed medical undergarments (single-use undergarments designed with retractable panels and a releasable waistband) to reduce the concerns of patients?

Thank you for joining me in this look at single-use undergarments for surgery.