Fit and fabric can make or break a bra. Just ask anyone who wears one. Nurses at Intermountain Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver were curious when women with similar larger breast sizes were being readmitted at a higher rate due to post surgical complications.
Medical professionals have long known the weight of larger breasts can strain the surgical incisions after open heart surgery and sometimes cause it to open. That’s why hospitals give patients a post-surgical bra designed to give support and avoid complications. Common practice is to dress the patients in this bra right after surgery and instruct them to wear it 20 hours a day for six weeks.
It is not uncommon for women after open heart surgery to be vulnerable to bra-related complications such as pressure injuries and wounds at the incision site if the fit and fabric is not right.
Cardiac nurses at Intermountain Health Saint Joseph Hospital became curious when they cared for several women with larger breasts who were readmitted to the hospital after heart surgery. The women had wounds at their incisions or pressure injuries on their sides when the bras were too small.
Ultimately, a patient mentioned the unmentionables, letting her caregivers know that the bra she was given was itchy and too small.
This inspired Intermountain Saint Joseph Hospital cardiac nurses Lauren Zobec, RN, and Sarah Duart, RN, to learn more and look for a solution.
“As long as I have been a cardiovascular nurse, we have used the same product. The fabric is scratchy and doesn’t breathe. There is a big elastic band that cut into people’s sides, and the biggest size we had just wasn’t big enough,” Zobec said. Patients get hot and sweaty thanks to hormone imbalances after surgery, and that post-operative bra just didn’t breathe.
“No wonder patients were not wearing them at home and came back in with wounds,” Zobec said. “We found lots of research about wound infections after open heart surgery.”
That research showed patients indeed reported ill-fitting bras and ditching the bras once they got home because of the fabric.
Zobec and Duart went bra shopping. They wanted a product that would reduce tension on the wound and have soft, stretchable material to manage swelling and moisture. The bra also needed to be available in larger sizes.
They found that the right bra does exist. It was designed by a woman for patients after breast surgery.
“It’s buttery soft, comfortable and supportive,” Zobec said. This new bra has openings on the sides, and it comes in sizes from small to 6XL.
While no bras were burned, all the former “1970s-style” post-surgical bras were set aside in September 2023 in favor of the new, pink bra, Zobec said. The results: Saint Joseph’s has had no post-operative wounds among the 71 female open heart surgery patients since then.
Zobec said she’s been a cardiac nurse for 18 years and had always used the former product for patients after surgery. Duart, who has worked in other health systems agreed that that bra was the only one offered.
When they began asking questions, the nurses had support from their leaders and the financial team that monitors supplies costs. The new bra does cost $5 more but will result in better outcomes and savings for the patient if it helps to prevent complications. By significantly reducing the chance for these complications, patients not only are more comfortable, but less prone to readmissions and complications.
“We’re here to help patients, and I want to get this bra everywhere because it’s important and the right thing to do for these women,” Zobec said. Plus, it’s painful for the patient undergoing treatment to then have wounds and pressure injuries, she added.
“Open heart surgery is a major thing to go through and to come back (to the hospital) because you didn’t have the right product. … We just want to help,” Duart said.
Zobec and Duart have submitted applications to speak at national nursing conferences to share what they have learned in hopes of bringing comfort to other heart patients throughout the country. Ingenuity, innovation, inspiration – two nurses who cared enough to search for solutions for improved patient care.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 34 hospitals, 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
