Stressed Out Patients Want to Keep Their Underwear On!

Word to the wise: your more modest surgical patients may be thinking, “You don’t need to see my private parts if you’re operating on my ankle/shoulder/hip.” A new study addressing this issue, “Exposure-Related Anxiety and Improving Patient Satisfaction with Medical Undergarments During Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” was published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

“We hear from our clinical teams that there is a small, but growing, number of patients that refuse to remove their undergarments for surgical procedures,” stated co-author Marc Jacofsky, Ph.D., to OTW. The Chief Scientific Officer at The CORE Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, added, “This creates unnecessary conflict between the nursing staff, who are trying to follow standard hospital procedures, and the patient—and all at a time when the patient may feel most vulnerable, just before a surgery.”

“There is also a growing movement online related to medical patient modesty which has received coverage in national media. There is a nonprofit dedicated to educating patients on their rights related to body exposure in the medical setting (Medical Patient Modesty). Since there are medical undergarments readily available, we wanted to identify how many of our patients experienced anxiety around body exposure and if providing clean single-use undergarments for their procedure would make a difference in their perception.”

31% of Patients Are Uncomfortable, 22% Are Stressed and Anxious

Dr. Jacofsky explained, “I think that clinical care teams take for granted that the patient will simply follow instructions—strip off all clothing before a medical procedure. It turns out that while very few patients actively push back or resist this request, 31% of the patients in our study reported being uncomfortable with exposing their private parts in the medical setting and 22% indicated that this exposure caused them stress or anxiety.”

A single-use medical undergarment is designed to allow for patient coverage beneath the medical examination gown, typically offering retractable panels and a releasable waistband. Asked why they selected these particular undergarments, Dr. Jacofsky noted, “There are a few manufacturers of medical undergarments, but many have designs for specific procedures, such as colonoscopy. We decided to use the COVR Medical undergarments because they provided the anatomical access flexibility required across a broad range of orthopedic procedures.”

Each patient took a seven-question preoperative survey after they put on the hospital-provided garments. The researchers sought to assess patients’ feelings about exposing their bodies in a medical setting, their satisfaction level with the facility-provided garments, and if the hospital garments would impact their decision to recommend, or return to, the facility for a similar procedure. After discharge, the patients took another seven-question survey (with similar questions regarding modesty but asking about their particular experience at the facility).

Underwear=Happier Patients=Less Conflict

“If providing medical undergarments can help to mitigate an unnecessary source of stress for patients and make them more satisfied with the hospital garments, facilities should strongly consider providing the option of wearing single-use undergarments to patients.”

“Hospitals and surgical centers could offer the option of medical undergarments to patients, so that those who are uncomfortable with exposure or experience exposure related anxiety have an option that is not currently available to them. This can also reduce unnecessary conflict between the preoperative care team and patients who do not want to remove their undergarments for their procedure.”