How your clothing could influence your care There is a fair amount of familiarity with ditching the hospital gown while you are in labor. By wearing your own outfit, anything from Pretty Pushers, a sports bra, or your birthday suit, you maintain your identity — your unique identity that can not be easily covered by a uniform gown. What if we go one step further and look at when else pregnant women might be wearing a hospital gown: during routine appointments. Consider this scenario: You sit in a triage type area, have your vitals taken by a nurse. Follow her back to a room, are told to get UNDRESSED, put on a thin, accessible, revealing gown, and that the doctor will be with you shortly. You leave your socks on, because of course it's cold and it helps you feel some small sense of security. You hear your chart retrieved from the door, and the doctor knocks, doesn't actually wait for an answer, and comes in wearing his white lab coat. You're sitting up on an exam table, and they sit down in their chair at the computer. At eye level with your waist. They systematically ask their questions. If you're later in your pregnancy, they may want to do a vaginal exam. {An unnecessary exam — your cervix is not a fortune teller and how it is currently has little indication of how it will be an hour from now, or tomorrow, or next week.} Does the doctor get explicit consent from you for this exam? They leave. You get dressed and go back to reception and leave as well. Does this sound familiar? If you had a midwife come to your home, it might not. However, since hospital births account for almost 99% of all births in the US, and these practices seem pretty standard. So what's the big deal? There are two uniforms in this scenario - the doctor's white lab coat and your hospital gown. Enclothed Cognition1 is a term introduced by Dr. Galinsky to describe how clothes can physiologically alter the wearer. "Clothes invade the body and brain, putting the wearer into a different psychological state"2 How does a hospital gown influence? Needing, ignorant, subordinate, inferior, vulnerable? How does the lab coat influence the doctor? Powerful, Knowledgeable, Authoritative? The dynamic between a person fully clothed, in a uniform of presumed authority versus exposed, in a uniform of people in need, encourages the feeling that the doctor has more control over the patient. You are the authority of your own body, baby, and choices. By remaining clothed, you keep your Bodily Autonomy, your identity. You remain on equal footing, human to human. You give explicit consent, not implied consent for an exam, as they do not readily have access to you. Options There are limited reasons during your pregnancy that you would need to be fully undressed and in a hospital gown. Access to your belly can be obtained by your shirt being slightly pulled up and your pants being slightly pulled down. If you do need to be in a gown, try changing after you have spoken with your care provider. Sit on the same level as them, so you are literally seeing eye to eye, while you discuss your care. The relationship between care provider and pregnant woman is incredibly important, and it needs to be based on trust and mutual respect. Start that respect by Keeping Your Pants On. 1. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103112000200
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/clothes-and-self-perception.html 3. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201307/the-rarely-told-true-story-zimbardo-s-prison-experiment 4. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrdq.1208/abstract
1 Comment
|
Categories
All
Archives
December 2019
|
RSS Feed