How to Select Clothing for Your Patient


Before selecting clothing, consider any specific problems the patient may have. People who are incontinent, handicapped, confined to a wheelchair, partially sighted or who have arthritic hands all need careful individual consideration. With a little ingenuity, many ordinary items of clothing can be adapted to individual needs.

Once you have taken the particular circumstances into account, the style of clothing selected will also depend on the weather and the kind of activity the patient’s likely to undertake. Clothes should preferably all be light, easily washed and dried and require little or no ironing. Flame-distant fabrics are best wherever possible, especially for the nightwear of children and “capacitated people. If the fabric is man-made, it should be 100 per cent polyester, which tends to melt in contact with fire; never choose acrylic, which will flare up.

The type and style of clothing chosen will depend very much on specific needs but it must look attractive and fit well to boost gives support. The slip-on shoe is the easiest to manage but you can buy elastic laces if the patient prefers lace-up shoes. Slippers should be discouraged, especially for a patient who has had a stroke.

If the patient’s clothing needs protecting at mealtimes, a plastic apron or a small make-up cape may do the job. For a fe­male patient who is more severely incapa­citated, a dress with a protective front may be useful – the front can be added at meal­times and removed when not required.

There are many modifications to clothing that will help patients whose hands are weak or arthritic. Front fastenings and wrap-over skirts make dressing easier for female patients. Conventional fastenings can be replaced with Velcro. Special braces, known as Edgware braces, can make it easier for the patient with the use of only one arm to take his trousers on and off: these braces are attached to the middle of the back of the trousers and worn round the neck like a school satchel. To put the trousers on, the patient sits down to pull them up as far as he can and to lift the braces over his head. When he stands up, the braces pull the trousers up over his buttocks, with the help of his hand.

Brassieres with front fastenings may help the arthritic or paralysed patient; patients could also fasten a back fastening in front and rotate it to the back. After the removal of a breast (mastectomy), a “criss cross” bra, or a style supplied by the National Health Service, is the most suitable.

Women with arthritic hands may find tights easier to cope with than stockings and suspenders. Tights do exclude the air and some people find them uncomfortable; they also seem to increase the likelihood of vaginal infections. Both problems can be avoided by buying single-leg tights, tights with cotton gussets or tights with no gusset, all of which allow air to circulate more freely. Garters are not a good idea, as they often impede circulation. If the patient finds pulling pants up and down difficult, there is a special crotch vent knicker available which she may find useful.

Filed Under: General How To's

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About the Author: Bruno Silva is an entrepreneur from Portugal with over 15 years of experience in Online Marketing. He is also a blogger and writes on variety of topics from online marketing to designs, cars to loans, etc.

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