New hospital gown design could help patients feel less exposed

Hospital gowns have always left a bit to be desired. Although functional, they don’t do much to protect a patient’s privacy. Wearing one of those gowns often means revealing all your goods—or at very least the ones around back.

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“Vice Principals” actor Busy Phillips recently poked fun at the lack of coverage hospital gowns offer, and it quickly earned lots of likes. Because, let’s face it, we’ve all been there in a hospital room, thinking, “Really, this is what you want me to wear!?”

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But here is some good news. A company called Care+Wear (pronounced “Care and Wear”) has redesigned the hospital gown, and its new version offers both form and function. Say goodbye to the days of mooning everyone in your medical staff!

Patients probably won’t be the only ones who love this new design. While it completely covers the patient’s body, it also allows doctors and nurses to easily check a patient’s vitals and access their IV site, as well as allowing the patient to easily use the bathroom.

Two snaps at the top offer access to the upper back (such as for a stethoscope), while the all-important lower-backside design has an opening for patients that will make it easy for them to use the restroom.

When designing this new gown, Care+Wear teamed with New York’s Parsons School of Design, which has been home to high-end designers such as Marc Jacobs, Issac Mizrahi, Derek Lam and Tim Gunn. For its part, Care+Wear has a mission to design “innovative healthwear to create more positive and effective healing experiences for patients everywhere.”

So far, hospitals such as MedStar Health in Maryland have expressed interest in this newer, more “dignified” version of the traditional hospital gown. The healthcare network is testing out the gowns at its location in Olney, Maryland, and if all goes well, it will roll the gowns out in its other locations as well, according to The Baltimore Sun.

The gowns are also available for purchase on the Care+Wear website. The gown costs $45, and comes in sizes small, medium and large. Although that might sound like a costly expense to add to one’s already hefty medical care bill, this could make a wonderful get-well gift for someone who is spending a great deal of time in the hospital. Sometimes it’s the little things that help to bring comfort and normalcy to a patient’s life, so it’s wonderful when new inventions like this can help to make an otherwise difficult time more pleasant.

And, let’s face it…some things are better left unseen.

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