AIBU to think you should get dressed for a medical appointment

[Ducksbehindthesofa]

Following on from the PJs on a plane post earlier today, curious to hear the consensus on this.

I had the misfortune of winding up in A&E on New Year's Day and was amazed by the number of people in grubby nightwear, dressing gowns, and slippers in the waiting room. There was an enormous amount of groaning, coughing, sniffing and sneezing going on by most of the wearers, so I guess there was a lot of the winter lurgy going on.

And last week, whilst at my GP practice (small village surgery where nobody would live more than a few minutes away), there was a woman in the waiting room wearing a dressing gown and Ugg boots, accessorised with a washing-up bowl on her knee. She did have some make-up on though, so a point was added for effort.

It's just yeuch, isn't it? If you're well enough to drag yourself to a doctor or hospital, you're well enough to at least throw some clothes on.

And I know it's none of my business and it doesn't matter one jot to me really, but I don't have to like it!

I used to work in a hospital. So many patients came along to clinical appointments (where they needed a full physical examination) without underpants on, we had to put a paragraph in the appointment letter telling people to wear appropriate underwear! This was not a gynaecological/sexual health/prostate type department, so their genitalia did NOT need to be inspected....😳

When I’m ill I don’t want to get dressed

I voted YABU, as I have been at the GP with sinusitis and in leggings / tank top as I felt awful. No way was putting in more clothes or even thinking about it.

Times I have been in A&E and admitted have been severe sickness in pregnancy and sepsis both times I would have walked in naked and not cared. I felt like death, so pjs are completely allowed in my opinion

Doctor. I definitely don't judge anyone unwell in pjs they're probably just wanting to be less uncomfortable

100% judge and am irritated by patients attending elective surgery with gel nails despite being told not to. It messes up our monitoring and its a faff trying to find alternative ear probes to safely measure their oxygen levels

You did make me laugh by reminding me of my 90yo nan getting admitted to hosp with her heart attack in the middle of the night. She made the paramedics wait till she changed from her nightie to a button up pj set so it would make it easier for staff to do repeat ecgs on her and she wanted to reduce their workload. Bless her heart

I think it depends why a person is there, and whether they were able to get dressed.

I saw someone in a dressing gown at minor injuries. However it was around midnight.

I had tripped and bumped my head on a door frame. Didn't lose consciousness but managed to have a nice cut. Due to location it seemed to bleed a lot.

It was about 11.15 at night. I was still dressed, but other nights may have got changed into nightwear by then. I had already bled over the floor, and spent most of the journey there with a tissue over the cut. If I had been dressed for bed, I probably wouldn't have got changed. I may have added jeans or leggings under my nightshirt, but wouldn't have been putting anything over my head.

There will be some that are just lazy and don't bother, but others where getting dressed before attending wasn't a viable option.

No no no @BillieWiper op would be judging the people in the rtc who still had makeup on after being involved in a serious head on RTC! Surely someone at scene should have removed the makeup!

Before I dialled 999 last week after my mother broke a Chinese ginger jar with her head, I should have made her get off the floor and change her clothes ....I mean who wants to see bloody night attire!

This is bollocks. Boomers were born and grew up in the 50s and 60s — hippies, free love, mini-skirts, FGS.
We were actually rebelling against the shirt, suit and tie brigade.
I remember my mother having a conniption fit when I went out with my dress barely covering my arse. And my dad having a go at my brother for his long hair (and general slovenliness (!)
Must have been about 1966-68. DB and I both 1950s born. Boomer generation ran from about 1945/6, to mid 60s.

DD (teen) wasn’t feeling great then fainted and had a fit in the middle of the day. No , I didn’t waste time to get her changed, I took her straight to A&E. Bad, neglectful mother of course. 🙄

@worldshottestmom has articulated it far better than I managed to do - thank you.

Some (ok, a lot!) of the comments have made me look at my OP from a different perspective, and I can see why I’ve had such a lambasting. Of course I’m not privy to the reason people were there, but honestly, there were clear signs that the most of the people I’m referring were not so unwell that they had literally dragged themselves in. Takeaways were ordered in, Uber were bringing McDonalds in at a steady rate and being consumed by groups of people; it seemed like a NYD family day out for some. People were FaceTiming family/friends loudly, cursing the clinicians for not being seen quickly enough and shouting at reception staff because they weren’t being seen/given pain relief/offered a bed.

I’m pretty mortified that I’m being perceived as cold and callous here, I’m absolutely not. I battle my own health challenges currently and a pretty obvious permanent disability - I’m in no position to be derogatory about the genuine plight of others, and would never be so intentionally.

I really do apologise for being insensitive, as I can see this is how my post comes across if you didn’t see the room and the people in it on that day. It was certainly not intended to be inflammatory or baiting, I saw it as a light hearted follow on from the earlier post on this subject, but clearly got it wrong.

Again, I’m sorry.

I don't suggest she does anything, I simply made the perfectly reasonable statement that it would have been unpleasant for all concerned.

There are some really, really silly responses on this thread and pps are deliberately missing the point the OP was making.
No one has said you should get dressed up or wear a ballgown clearly (although those posters clearly thought they were being VERY amusing) but I refuse to believe that most people attending A&E under their own steam are physically unable to at least pull a coat on instead of a dressing gown. No one has said this applies to children or those admitted by ambulance.
Obviously pps are indulging in a bit of competitive A&E situations, but I am with the OP on this one.

Why though? Why do you need to? Surely a HOSPITAL is one place where you don't need to worry about your clothes.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been to the hospital for a blood test in pjs and sliders. I've also been in wearing a jumper I've worn a week straight and shirts the same. Who actually cares. You're not there for a good time? There's obviously something wrong if you are in a hospital in any capacity.

Oh please, find another hobby instead of judging ill people in a GP surgery / A&E. I pity you, honestly :(

DS goes into anaphylaxis and epi pens don'talways work. He's now adult. When he was young I've run through A&E in my PJs wearing whatever I had on my feet. I could get there far quicker than calling 999. I saved him numerous times. Do you really think I'd have stopped to get dressed when minutes made a difference?
I wouldn't go anywhere routine wearing PJs but A&E is one place I wouldn't care.

Gawd yeah I wouldn't be surprised by that either! 🤣

It's "set foot" not "step foot". Sorry to be a pedant, but your post doesn't sound like you're the kind of person who couldn't care less about etiquette.

I realise that. People are expressing all sorts of opinions on this post, which is the whole point of it, and why the OP started it. Zero need for the faux gasp.

Last time I went to an and e my husband had to half carry me in as I could no longer walk. I then sat on a chair for 8 hours, drifting in and out of consciousness. I was wearing a vest top (no bra) and shorts. When I finally went through I had a team around me in minutes, full emergency care, admitted for a long time, straight to ICU.
To the outsider I looked fine (hence incorrectly triaged), maybe looked azy and napping. In reality I was dying without enough oxygen, in sepsis, unable to speak through weakness so no complaint to make.
I wasn’t wearing PJs but only cos I’d been in the same day clothes for days, with no ability to change. High pain threshold and autism means it wasn’t obvious to me that I needed help until it was almost too late. Honestly OP you have no idea how sick someone is by looking at them, or how long it takes them to be seen. Take people in A&E as you find them.

It’s a trip to a&e. You grab whatever is warm enough and go. If you have time to think, you probably don’t need to be there.

the woman with the bowl may have still had makeup on from earlier before she got sicker.

If you are so precious that you can’t handle being around people who are truly sick, hire a private physician who will see you and only you.

signed a woman who showed up for a very needed hospital procedure to treat the cause of looking so awful that the clerk apologized for having to take my photo at intake. I didn’t care. I was just trying to stay standing upright for 3 whole minutes.

I never wear make up.

do I get points taken off?

do men get points taken off?

i fucking hate dress codes and judging clothes and make up.

people are ill, they can wear what they want.

Well PRIORITIES!! “GCS of 2, unresponsive to external stimuli, but don’t worry… make up removed!!”

Kind of depends what is wrong, earlier this year I was so debilitated dh had to help me put clothes on, help me downstairs and into the car and into the drs, pretty scary as I’ve never experienced anything like that. I pulled on jogging bottoms, crop top and a jumper and underwear but had to have him help.

I suppose most trips to A and E are unscheduled, so not an appointment as such.

@Ducksbehindthesofa I think you are getting an unnecessarily hard time on here, and people are intentionally missing the point you were trying to make. Wishing you loads of luck for the future 💐