Have you ever felt embarrassed wearing one of those open-backed hospital gowns? You are not alone. Most people would probably prefer to wear their own comfortable clothing if they could, but hospitals don’t usually permit this.
Canadian scientists asked doctors in Montreal and Toronto to identify patients who could wear lower-body garments without a negative impact on their care. Out of 127 patients admitted to the participating hospitals on the research day, 57 were considered eligible for lower-body attire. Only 14 were actually wearing their own pants, although more than three fourths of the patients queried said that is what they would prefer.
The researchers point out that wearing home clothing could help patients ward off hospital-induced disability, presumably because it is easier to be up and about when you are not worried about exposing yourself inadvertently. The investigators suggest that patients who can do so should be encouraged to wear their own pants.
[JAMA Internal Medicine, online, Sept. 22, 2014]
The authors of this research letter suggest that when hospitals insist on the open-backed gowns, it is often to underscore the patient role and emphasize the hospital pecking order. We agree with them that greater dignity should make for a better patient experience, whenever the hospital gown is not essential for the care being provided.
