removing gowns

Depending on the location of your foot operative site, they might have had to position you on your stomach, in which case they would have removed your gown before doing so.

We always untie the gown. You don't want things bunched up under the patient.(such as extra material or the knots of the gown) Also, we put a grounding pad on for electrocautery and anesthesia puts leads on(even if the patient is getting MAC) We need access to the patient's body for these things.

I know you said the leads were already placed, but it has happened where they've had to move one. At any rate, I don't think they were peeking at you.

I doubt the bruises were from your surgery but you may have given them to yourself inadvertently...some of our patients experience funky affects from medication and they thrash around, try to climb off of the bed etc. We do indeed protect skin as much as we possibly can. You may have had them before and just didn't notice.

I get very irritated when I find a patient's gown tied. It is old school to keep everything loose around a patient. I even unsnap the arm sleeves.

A gown left tied can lead to pressure sores from impeded circulation just as and unpadded boney prominence so regardless of positioning, the gown should be untied and pulled from underneath because of possible bunching. Typically this is best accommodated while the patient is still conscious. It may have been done while you were conscious but you don’t remember that part because of the Versed. If you were positioned prone, the same rules apply about the gown bunching and it should be removed (my facility waits until the patient is unconscious because of embarrassment but maintains the patient’s dignity and covers as soon as positioning is completed).

Bruising on the elbows can range from unpadded boney prominences to a combative patient to you simply bruise easy. There are too many variables to speculate on this.

I get very irritated when I find a patient's gown tied. It is old school to keep everything loose around a patient. I even unsnap the arm sleeves.

Not as irritated as when a patient arrives to the O.R. wearing underwear and jewelry.

Not as irritated as when a patient arrives to the O.R. wearing underwear and jewelry.

true dat!!

Gown knots can be irritating, so untying them is a good idea. Also, gowns can get wrapped around you like (in the words of one of our CRNA's) a burrito during transfers, so we always untie the gown and pull the gown out from under the patient when we move them from the stretcher to OR table and back.

Not as irritated as when a patient arrives to the O.R. wearing underwear and jewelry.

Please don't get me started!:angryfire:angryfire

Not as irritated as when a patient arrives to the O.R. wearing underwear and jewelry.

My facility is great and rarely sends pts. with jewelry or undies. If they do, there is a good reason.

Not as irritated as when a patient arrives to the O.R. wearing underwear and jewelry.

add to that... nail polish and dentures! the patient was not told of the importance of removing these things, so the client was able to conceal that she had dentures... no excuse for the nail polish!

I'm a 49 year old male and I recently had shoulder surgery and was kind of upset when the nurse opened my gown when standing behind me and then told me to remove my underwear. I told her it wasn't going to happen and hopped up onto the gurney; frankly I saw no reason for that since they would be working on my shoulder and nothing below the waist. She apparently called down to the OR and they said it was fine because I never had to remove them and I woke up with my boxer briefs still on. Afterwards, when I needed to void before I could go home, the nurse followed me into the bathroom, which was helpful because of the nerve block on one side and the IV on the other and I was still kind of groggy. Once she hung up the IV bag, rather than leaving, she reached into my gown and tried to pull my underwear down without so much as asking, which really perturbed me. I grabbed them before they went down and told her that I could handle that and would ask for help if I needed it. She then left me to try to go.

For the most part, the nurses were great, except for these couple of things I felt violated my privacy and were kind of rude. I'm not sure they should have left me alone with a cup of coffee as I was recovering; I guess I was holding on to the cup while it was sitting on the tray and staring into space for a while...good thing I didn't spill....