Sunday, September 16, 2012

Gowns

I have never understood why, why when I tell a patient to "get undressed and put this gown on" do they put the gown on over their clothing. I've even had patients put the gown on over their winter coats.

Really? Because I gave you the gown just so I have to dig through even more layers? Does that make any sense to you people?!

I don't know why this bothers me so much.



Maybe because while I believe that only some people are dumb, nightshift in the ER tends to attract disproportionately high numbers of them. Sometimes though I just get so damn frustrated with the general dumbness of our overall society, I forget that there are normal people out there.

7 comments:

Mark p.s.2 said...

The people you are giving orders to didn't join the Army/Marines , so don't expect them to follow your orders. Only a exhibitionist would want to get naked and put on a piece of paper.

L said...

Truuuuue. But if you've come to the ER to get your giant butt abscess lanced...it just makes sense to remove your clothes before putting on a gown. I don't know, maybe my expectations are just too high.

Anonymous said...

OK, what part of PLEASE TAKE OFF ALL YOUR CLOTHES AND PUT THIS GOWN ON WITH THE OPENING IN THE BACK did you not understand?It ain't f'in rocket science, people. But yes, you are right, our expectations are obviously
too high...

Anonymous said...

If you break it down to each individual piece of clothing they have to take off and then put the gown on, does it work any better?

Mark p.s.2 said...

You should know the first rule: People are Stupid

Anonymous said...

@anonymous: Nope, it doesn't work any better. Somehow, "remove everything from the waist up and put this gown on with the opening in the back" translates to "leave your bra on and put the gown on so it opens in the front."

People are just dumb.

Anonymous said...

I have spent way too much time as a patient in the hospital. I avoid those gowns whenever I can. I had a boob pop out of one once in the middle of the hallway.

I wear a loose pair of pajama pants and a shower wrap or tube top. This leaves plenty of room for interventions, but covers the parts that I like covered. Works most of the time, but I did have to wear my pajama bottoms like a homie when I had my butt abscess drained. No fun!

BTW, if you left some pediatric-sized gowns around for us smaller-framed people, we might actually disrobe and wear the freaking gown.