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Redesigning Hospital Gowns to Enhance End Users' Satisfaction
Author(s) -
Cho KyeongSook
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
family and consumer sciences research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 1077-727X
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x06286570
Subject(s) - patient satisfaction , medical emergency , university hospital , medicine , engineering , medical education , nursing
The design considerations for hospital gowns were investigated through a review of previous research and interviews with licensed practical nurses and patients who had been hospitalized and wore hospital gowns during their hospitalization. Two designs of prototype hospital gowns, Prototypes A and B, were proposed and users' comfort perceptions per prototype were compared to a conventional gown to evaluate their satisfaction through wear trials with 12 female participants. Prototype A featured a front opening and a back‐slit overlap. Prototype B was composed of openings on the upper chest area and on the side and cap sleeves. Back opening with ties and raglan sleeves were the main features of the conventional gowns. Prototype A was more acceptable to the participants than the conventional gown. On the basis of the findings of this study, guidelines are provided for a hospital gown design to enhance the users' satisfaction.