The Hospital Gown. If you were in the ER, which way would you wear it? Open to the front or open to the back? If you were spending the night in the hospital would you wear it open to the front? The open front hospital gown is one of my biggest pet peeves in women's health (don't even get me started on a paper open front gown). Are we so busy as physicians that if we have to do more than simply move the gown to the side to do a breast exam we are wasting time? How hard is it to slip the gown off an arm or use those buttons on the shoulder?
I have long held two beliefs about the annual exam.
1. The first time you meet your doctor you should be in your clothes and then change into a gown.
2. Gowns open to the back.
These are just plain etiquette. Number 1 is a no brainer, do you agree? My argument for belief number two is simply this. As you lay on the table with the gown open to the front, waiting for a cold handed physician to walk in to complete an exam that you have probably waited quite a while to have, you are also struggling to cover yourself with the skimpy sheet you were handed. This fight is important mostly because it's cold but also deep down all of us feel self conscious, sometimes scared of discomfort or diagnosis, and very exposed at this moment in our year. When the doctor arrives and you finally have to let go of the sheet with one hand and place it above your head for your breast exam with the gown splayed open as you struggle to hold on to the sheet with the other hand, listen and answer their questions, and decide if eye contact and talking is okay, there isn't really a word to describe what you feel except exposed.
It it is okay to wear the gown the right way for your annual exam - open to the back just like you would in any other office. I believe it helps make one of life's pesky days a little easier.
Now if I just blog some etiquette beliefs about colonoscopy, Wal-Mart, and bars the world would be fine once again.
****please forgive all run on sentences, grammar errors, and mis-spellings****
i don't get the gown and paper sheet combo. why do i need both? the gown covers enough of me and the paper sheet is too big for just my lap.
ReplyDeletethanks for reading MITZI!!!
ReplyDeleteI miss you.
the way we are taught to see every patient is they are in a gown.... and you drape them from the waste down in a sheet. that way when you examine the abdomen... because you are suppose to raise up the gown and look listen and feel, there aren't random genitalia hanging out (ie if you are seeing a man for a physical) :)
The paper gown and paper sheet???? my favorite.... I once saw a doctor just rip into these to do an exam... how barbarian