The preoperative shower for obese patients: What patients and caregivers say

Introduction: At least one preoperative shower is recommended to avoid surgical site infection. Caregivers must explain the showering technique, help the patient if necessary, and assess skin cleanliness after showering.
Context: Showering may be more difficult for obese patients because of inadequate equipment and difficulties moving, as well as insufficient explanation regarding the showering technique and an insufficient skin cleanliness assessment from caregivers.
Objective: to assess whether patients and/or caregivers report difficulties in the preoperative shower process that could be linked to patient obesity. Methods: pilot qualitative survey with semi-structured interviews conducted with 9 obese surgery patients and 11 surgery caregivers.
Results: Patients did not report feelings of discrimination. They described no problem with equipment, but declared having received little explanation on the showering technique and no visual skin cleanliness assessment. Caregivers reported equipment as inadequate, they stated having delivered detailed information, but found the skin cleanliness assessment difficult.
Discussion: The lack of skin cleanliness assessment by caregivers after preoperative showering is new information. Limits: preliminary study with a small number of interviews and no non-obese patients.
Conclusion: the subject warrants additional work with both quantitative and qualitative surveys to better understand the difficulties with preoperative showering.