Customized patient clothing and patient satisfaction

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Design
• Patient Experience
• Medical Textiles

Background:

• Patient privacy and comfort are crucial during medical procedures.
• Traditional hospital gowns often provide inadequate coverage and may not be suitable for all procedures.
• The need for specialized patient attire to improve satisfaction and respect privacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient satisfaction with customized, high-coverage, procedure-specific clothing.
• To compare patient satisfaction between new clothing designs and regular patient clothing.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 256 patients across six hospital wards.
• Patients were divided into two groups: regular design clothing and new-design clothing.
• Patient satisfaction was assessed using a questionnaire focusing on six key features: ease of wearing, comfort, design, material, coverage level, and size.

Main Results:

• The new-design group (n=128) reported significantly higher satisfaction rates across all measured features compared to the regular-design group (n=128).
• Highest satisfaction in the new-design group was observed for ease of wearing (93.7%), size (91.4%), and coverage level (89.9%).
• Conversely, the regular-design group showed high dissatisfaction rates, particularly for ease of wearing (98%) and comfort (84%).

Conclusions:

• Customized, high-coverage, procedure-specific patient clothing can substantially improve patient satisfaction.
• The findings underscore the value of tailored garments in enhancing patient comfort, privacy, and overall experience.
• This study is the first to investigate customized patient clothing, demonstrating its positive impact on key aspects of patient care.