Dressed for success: Re-covering patients

A New York designer gives those oh-so-revealing hospital gowns a makeover that's left patients and doctors feeling good.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Aug. 27, 2001.

Hospital gowns aren't the butt of jokes at Hackensack University Medical Center anymore.

The hospital hired designer Nicole Miller to revamp those flimsy, dingy gowns that are barely held together in back by three loose ties and leave patients feeling exposed.

Her solution: Heavier cotton fabric with bright blue and green backgrounds covered with a whimsical design that includes stethoscopes, pill bottles, syringes and other medical-related items.

And instead of a gown that ties loosely in the back, she created boxer shorts, drawstring pants, pullover tops and gowns that snap up the side or in the front.

Patients feel less vulnerable. And physicians who initially worried that they wouldn't have the quick access they needed to treat patients have found that access has not been a problem.

In fact, they say it's refreshing to see how much a simple gown has done for their patients' morale.

"Patients need to feel good about themselves," said Mark Schlesinger, MD, anesthesiology chair for Hackensack University Medical Center. "The old-style gowns were just very demoralizing. ... These gowns make patients feel less vulnerable up front."

There's no argument on that point from Wallington, N.J., resident Arleen Canestrale. She's been in the hospital three times in the past 15 years. During her first two visits when she gave birth to her sons, she said the hospital gowns left her embarrassed when visitors came because the holes were so wide.

The memories of that embarrassment stuck with her. So 12 years later when she came to the hospital in July for surgery she was quite pleased to see the style update. [...]