Hospital gowns get makeovers(2)

Summer season collection

The redesigned garments have not yet made it to most of the 200,000 patients and 50,000 medics in the Beijing system. When a Metropolitan reporter went to Chaoyang Hospital on April 11, one of the five hospitals where the new designs have been dispatched, only a few patients were dressed in the new garments. After a stroll in wards, most of the patients and all of the children were seen still in the old gowns of blue and white colors.

Some of the patients who tried the new garments grumbled to Metropolitan about the new outfits. One patient surnamed Yan said that he does not love his new clothes, claiming they look clumsy and are not as warm as the old ones.

"It is not full-sleeved nor is it 100 percent cotton," he said. "Besides, the overlapped collars cannot fully cover my chest, when it is drafty."

Another patient surnamed Zhang said that he wonders if corresponding health authorities ever consulted patients for advice on the new design.

"If the dress does not look good, it should at least be made with comfortable material," he said, complaining noting that the cotton-polyester blended fabric is not comfortable.

As these designs have been slowly reaching patients - starting with five hospitals this month before being introduced to the entire system in May - some Web users also expressed their opinions about the new garments.

Weibo users posted snapshots of the new outfits in early April. Although some applauded the new changes, many condemned its color, style and fabric.

"The new clothing has no passion at all. Its look is rather like that of a beggar," wrote Niaolanfeifei, a Weibo user.

Another Weibo microblogger named Daisy Mengmeng commented that she felt that in the new garments, the patients' conditions could worsen.

"Patient gowns are a kind of fashion that require beauty and comfort just like any other garment," she wrote.

On the positive side, Aliweng said, "I do not want to get sick after looking at the new design."

One size does not fit all

When Metropolitan reached Shen for a comment about the public disapproval for her designs, she said that one reason people are unhappy is that the patients haven't been given appropriately-sized gowns. She said that hospitals tend to give people a larger size because it makes removing or putting on the clothes easier.

There are also a few tweaks that will be made to the design after its full launch next month, she said.

To Shen, different people were bound to have different takes on the redesign.

"Therefore, it's hard to tell who is right and wrong from an aesthetic perspective," she said.

Hospital authorities have already received public feedback and say they are ready to take corrective action when necessary.

Yu also revealed that another factor must be considered for any changes to the designs - cost.

"The expenditure of this new change in clothing in hospitals is partially covered by the municipal government and the rest of the expenses fall on the shoulders of the hospitals themselves," said Yu. "Making huge changes [to this new design] would be a financial burden to the hospitals." The color of the newly designed clothes could be changed if people don't like them, but the style is fixed.

 "We would like to make some changes to the patient gowns or medical uniforms in light of the feedback pouring in this month," Yu said. "A design will never make everyone happy, though."

Meanwhile, we can all hope that the clever use of color and design in the new uniforms will lead to patients having a more pleasant and convenient stay while they are in the hospital, no longer feeling like they are prisoners of their illness.