Thursday, June 15, 2017

Preserving Dignity

I recently had some experience of seeing hospital gowns in action so-to-speak and it made me think how poorly designed they are!

There are many different styles of gown, but nearly all of them involve an opening which is usually down the back. Even if the gown has a cross over flap, quite often the tape ties are missing and it can't be tied to cover the dignity of the person in the gown. And those tape ties-most people wearing the gown can't get to them to tie them, and it seems hospital staff don't much bother about them either.
                                              Updating the Hated Hospital Gown - Next Avenue

The gowns I saw a lot of also had snap closures from the neck to the sleeve edge, which did work well but they also had a pocket on the front for a heart monitor to be carried which was attached through a hole at the back of the pocket to the patient. This too was a good idea, but what the designer had not thought of was the weight of the monitor, which dragged the neckline of the gown down and being a large neckline, again exposed more of the patient than maybe was needed.
                                                     
I know there are many different reasons people are in hospital and need to be wearing a gown. And that staff and doctors need easy access to various parts of the body, but surely by now there could be a better gown or gowns for patients to wear? How hard would it be to have a gown that meets the needs of most medical situations?

Anyway, this was something I was thinking while sitting about at the hospital. I also got a little stitching time in too. Happily my patient is home now recovering slowly and able to wear street clothes!

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