We're giving hospital gowns a bit of their own medicine, by exposing them.
To be fair, some of them actually have come a long way from those crinkly paper gowns with questionably secure ties in the back. And patients today can be comforted knowing hospitals here view their "coverage" as a serious part of their health care.
Lancaster General Health has about a dozen different gowns, according to Frieda Schmidt, public relations manager. They range from "the traditional gowns with openings down the back for medical-surgical patients to deluxe gowns and robes for our cancer patients." Pediatric patients wear "doc scrubs," and special gowns are provided for patients who need IVs and patients connected to telemetry monitors. And there are "different gowns for new mothers at Women & Babies Hospital, and even custom-made ones for cancer patients and mammography patients," Schmidt adds. LGH contracts with Medline Industries Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of health care supplies based in Illinois.
Ephrata Community Hospital is one of four hospitals in the U.S. to still make a majority of its gowns. Although gowns for "everyday" patients are manufactured elsewhere, those worn by ECH bariatric patients ("adequate privacy") and behavioral health patients ("gowns and pajama bottoms without strings") are created in-house, according to David Peck, vice president of support services. Hospital staff and volunteers from area church groups make the gowns.
"Volunteers provide 50 man-hours a week to help in the sewing room," Peck said.
The nursing staff at ECH designed the gowns for its cardiac patients. A special pocket is included on each gown to hold the telemetry monitoring equipment so that the patient doesn't need to carry it, Peck says. EKG tops and mammography tops, enabling patients to remain covered and still have testing performed, also are created in-house.
"The gowns at ECH all tie to the side to enhance patient privacy," Peck adds, and they're "extra long, most times extending past the knee. We also provide pants for (members of) the Plain community, so that they can maintain their modesty."
Likewise, Lancaster Regional and Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Centers work with patients to accommodate modesty requests. "In some situations, we may allow patients to wear pajama pants under the gowns, which provides some modesty," says Peter J. Mecouch, chief nursing executive. "But if patients have special catheters or drains, pants may not be possible."
Perhaps we have the baby boomers to thank for such changes in the industry. Dusty Eber, president of PatientStyle, a national company that provides adult gowns and pediatric wear to medical institutions, says baby boomers are "the best-educated and most health care-savvy seniors this country has ever seen. They demand a higher level of care and comfort not afforded to their parents. Hospital gowns are a great way to show that the hospital cares about and is focused on every aspect of patient comfort and patient care." Eber says his company's gowns can affect the patient's well-being. For example, patients who wear such gowns are more likely to get out of bed and walk because "they are fully covered, modest and comfortable," Eber says.
"I believe nurses everywhere would be willing to work with any patient on their cultural needs or modesty concerns," Mecouch says. "Again, some of the modesty may need to be lost due to the clinical needs of the patient." He points out that on some gowns, snaps have been added to the shoulders and sleeves, allowing caregivers to remove the gowns more easily to accommodate IVs, drains and other equipment.
And though it might be an afterthought for the patient more concerned about the very reason he or she is seeking care, a gown with even small adaptations for comfort can make the wearer feel more at ease, according to Eber. "Mentally, the gown makes the user feel more like a person and less like a patient," Eber says.
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