Having been a patient in hospital, and most embarrassingly the one where most of the staff know me, I had the increased indignity of having to wear one of those horrendous hospital gowns. You know the one. It seems that someone else who has suffered the same shame, has decided to do something about it, and has tried to redesign one of the worst pieces of non-fashionable clothing on the planet. Take a look.On a related note - do any of you think that it might be a good idea to start carrying some of these gowns on the ambulances? Has anyone else noticed that it's always the people who we need to monitor the closest, who are wearing the most inaccessible clothing?
So what do you think? Should we provide gowns to make life easier both for us and our patients?
5 comments:
Hi Ben,
Some trucks seem to have them on already, so some people are doing this. I'm not convinvced we should, we don't have the full 360' access to ease removing sleeves without cutting, especially thick or stiff sleeved jackets. Also, with our perpetual shortage of blankets, and lack of insulation in gowns do we really want people gettin cold as we transit Ambo to doorway in the rain?
I think in an ideal world maybe, practically not at the mo.
RH
Would you be able to dress patients in these gowns and still meet the required 8 minutes (or whatever)? If not, then no matter how sensible, you can't do it.
BM
While not official, many of our crews 'obtain' them from the hospital and carry them. It makes access for 12-leads much easier, and the first thing the hospital will do is undress them anyway.
I don't quite understand the 8 minute comment from Anonymous #2 above. That refers to arrival time, so unless the paramedics are changing into the gowns I don't see how it could affect things. :-)
You could use large ones and put them on back-to-front so they tie at the front (doesn't help with the bariatric patient of course). Or two (gowns, not patients):-)
They're on every vehicle in my service. We don't have separate ambulance laundry/hospital laundry though so you just get what you need out of the hospital linen cupboard.
Post a Comment