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Doctor, Nurse Give Hospital Gowns an Update
Colleen Lamay / The Buffalo News
June 02, 2009
BOISE, Idaho—The mental light bulb lit up in Dr. Brian Kerr’s brain during a routine day at a Boise hospital.
Registered nurse Carleen Egbert and anesthesiologist Kerr watched an older patient walking away from them, her hospital gown gaping open in the back.
“Why can’t somebody come up with a gown that covers the butt?” Egbert asked rhetorically.
That was May 2005. It took almost four years to turn the idea for a new gown into a patented product manufactured and distributed through a medical and surgical supply company with a worldwide reach.
The gowns part on the sides. A sash ties in front.
A first shipment of 150,000 gowns is on its way to the United States from China.
St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center are looking into using the gowns, some of which are expected to arrive in Boise this month.
“We are impressed with it, but it has to go through our internal evaluation process,” St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center spokesman Ken Dey said.
For patients, the issue is privacy and dignity. For nurses and doctors, it is access to parts of patients’ bodies that are blocked by traditional gowns, especially if patients are double- gowned.
Double gowning for patient privacy can be a headache for nurses who have to monitor patients through layers of fabric. It also doubles the laundry load.
A week or so after the nurse and doctor talked, Kerr came to the hospital with the first version. He had dressed one of his daughters’ Barbie dolls in a hospital gown cut and sewn from a blue hospital rag.
At one point, federal patent officials told Egbert that her gown was not unique because it closely resembled a doll dress or a child’s sundress from the 1930s.
The gown also had to gain the approval of the Food and Drug Administration, which is required for hospital use.
Kerr owns the gown’s patent, but he left the business side of things to Egbert. He didn’t have time for it between his work as an anesthesiologist and his business, Silk Touch Medspa in Eagle, he said.
Egbert licensed AMD Ritmed to manufacture and distribute the gowns. Kerr and Egbert will split royalties, about 7 percent, on gowns sold.
© YellowBrix 2009 
blackmon44
3 months ago
44 comments
I think they should make hospital gowns where they wrap around and tie on the side, that would be helpful and help keep everyone's business on the inside.
1RRRN
3 months ago
4 comments
http://www.amdritmed.com/hospital-gown.htm In case anyone else wanted to see it. Great idea.
Privacy yes. Also, part of "sick role" costume. Some one said, when in the hospital, do everything you can to be seen as an individual. Wear big animal slippers or anything to be remembered. Avoid blending in too much with the "boxer shorts print" uniform.
etrouillot
4 months ago
6 comments
ECT Solutions and American Dawn Inc. To Present The Next Generation Patient Gown for the 21st Century
Tampa, Florida (July 20-21, 2009) - ECT Solutions and American Dawn Inc. (ADI) have joined forces to design and manufacture an innovative patient gown for the 21st Century, to be presented at the AHRMM09 in Tampa Florida's Downtown Convention Center. The recent front page Wall Street Journal article, May 11, 2009, describes the present patient gown as being "...around as long as the Band-Aid."
In clinical trials, the ECT gown has been described as fulfilling a long void for a patient gown that facilitates the delivery of quality care while maintaining patient comfort, privacy and dignity. The ECT gown promotes compliance with Joint Commission Safety Standards and helps reduce the risks of hospital acquired infections (HAI.)
The U.S. patented ECT gown is designed by nursing clinicians who recognize the need for change. The ECT patient gown is certain to be the new standard, solving the challenges modern medicine and technology poses to patient care providers. The unique features of the ECT gown were developed from twenty years of hands-on nursing experience.
The well-designed, cost effective ECT gown, increases efficiencies, lowers operating costs and helps improve positive patient outcomes. Competitively priced, the ECT patient gown provides sustainable value to the bottom line.
Come and see the American Dawn Inc. LIVE DEMONSTRATION of the new next generation gown at Booth #1040.
etrouillot
4 months ago
6 comments
It's great to see how many people are addressing the issue of those dreaded gowns we learned to hate. Unlike many developers of gowns, we have created the next generation in Patient Gowns we call The ECT Patient Gown. With the clinical value it offers along with addressing the Patients modesty and safety issues makes the ECT Patient Gown a product to consider. Priced to compete with the standard telemetry and I.V. gowns used today helps hospitals maintain their cost thus making the ECT Gown more appealing. The ECT Patient Gown was designed from the nursing point of view, recognizing the need for a better patient gown. Providing care to patients wearing the current hospital gown requires lifting the gown to access devices such as JP drains, central lines or gastrostomy tubes. With The ECT Patient Gown, the healthcare provider has easy access and visibility to these devices, while maintaining patient comfort, privacy and dignity. The ECT Patient Gown facilitates patient care while enhancing a culture of safety as mandated by The Joint Commission. The ECT Patient Gown helps meet The Joint Commission's safety goals, including goal # 7 and #13 which encourages patient involvement in their own care. With the advent of the CMS legislation (effective October 2008) to not reimburse for hospital acquired infections (HAI), The ECT Patient Gown helps reduce the risk of HAIs. The strategically placed openings in The ECT Patient Gown reduce stress on the incision sites, reduces the risk of dislodgement, facilitates early ambulation, all of which lower the risk of HAIs. Please visit www.ectsolutions.info for more details.
Nana2
5 months ago
16 comments
Finally someone decided to re-invent those stupid gowns as we all knew needed changed. Great work, can't wait to see.
girlgunfighter
5 months ago
10 comments
I appreciate the idea...but China? Nobody here sows anymore? I thought New York had a garment district. I live in a small town in Illinois and I know of 2 garment factories within 10 miles. Come on guys! It's an American idea (and a damn good one) why not make them in America? BTW...thank you for finally solving the problem of the double gown. I can't wait to use them!
Tolulope
5 months ago
184 comments
I'm eager to see the new patient's gown.
Thanks 4 the update!
jazzy0154
5 months ago
8 comments
coming from China!... Excuse me !... Why would you not give the job to Americans to make wether the product succeeds or not , why would you not give people here the job they so need? Especially your peers as they are struggling too?