Paper
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Expanding the Comfort of Post-Mastectomy Patients Using the Papilla Gown
Ho Soon Michelle Cho, PhD, RN and Gail Davis, EdD, RN. College of Nursing, Texas Woman's University, Dallas, TX, USA
| Learning Objective #1: explain how the design of the Papilla gown increases patient comfort following mastectomy. |
| Learning Objective #2: describe the advantages of Papilla gowns vs. standard hospital gowns for increasing comfort of post-mastectomy patients |
The major aim of this study was to determine whether the Papilla Gown designed specifically to meet the needs of post-mastectomy patients with a closed drainage system in place is more comfortable than the typical hospital gown. A small convenience sample of 13 post-mastectomy patients participated in this preliminary study testing the gown’s use. Participants were taught how to properly wear the hospital gown and Papilla Gown prior to surgery. They were discharged with the gowns and two questionnaires (Comfort Questionnaire and Patient Data Form) that were to be returned approximately a week following surgery. Thirteen of the 38 (34%) who agreed to participate submitted usable forms. The Wilcoxon signed-ranks test was used for comparing the comfort scores of the Papilla Gown with the hospital gown. Participants reported significantly higher scores (p<.003) for the Papilla Gown on all of Comfort Questionnaire’s 10 items, except one (p = .337) related to fear of pulling out the drainage tubes. Specifically, patients felt more comfortable about their appearance in the gowns, their ability to move, and the support of the drainage tubes. These results are important to future planning for addressing the comfort needs of this patient group in the immediate postoperative period.