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Hospitals feature quite heavily on this site - both in fictional stories and in real life blogs. So you may be interested in this story from Tuesday...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8582161.stm
Hospital gowns, bed bays, chairs and washrooms have been given a makeover to prevent patients being exposed and embarrassed.
The initiative, led by the Department of Health and the Design Council, aims to transform a stay in hospital, making it a more modest experience.
The [new] gown is shaped like a large, long T-shirt. Rather than being tied at the back, like the old one, it is fastened at both sides using plastic poppers to allow drips, drains and fast access. Extra panels can be added at the sides to accommodate larger bodies.
The gowns will be available for hospitals to buy from early next year, at the same cost as the old ones.
Comments
About time too
I always wondered why gowns tied at the back. Apart from work on the spine or the colon, why did they need to?
The other innovations seem a good idea too. Now; all we need to do is to get the Primary Care Trusts to fork out for them.
If it took seven teams to work all this out, where's the replacement for the bedpan? or were the teams all men?
Susie
Tied at the back
Down there! This is a serious comment :)
I think that they are tied at the back because, if you've ever wandered about a hospital wearing one of these, the most that gets seen is your bum and possibly a tiny slice of your lower back.
Now, think what would happen if it were turned round... yup, various man and woman bits on prominent display! I guess they chose the lesser of two evils.
Mind you, doing up one of those half-assed reversed gowns in a small changing room gets interesting. Especially if you haven't figured it out and get it wrong... seen a few like that. Not pretty.
Penny
I've got my back
Years ago, I worked out how to reach behind myself to tie a dress sash in a bow knot at my back. So when I go in to visit my dermatologist, the ties are all properly tied at the back of my hospital gown by the time she comes into the examination room, and I am seated waiting for her with my gown properly arranged, and my knees very demurely together. She has never said anything, but the way she moved when she pulled out the bow at my back spoke volumes. :)
So when I decided to prank her by putting on a tie-dyed umbrella dress,
and then remarked that I thought it far more becoming and comfortable than a hospital gown, I was not at all surprised that she took it completely in her stride. Wow, she was ready to refer me to someone to get me started on HRT and everything! :D