What are Medical Scrubs?
Scrubs are a hygienic protective garment as well as uniform, used by medical personnel, consisting of a short-sleeved shirt and drawstring pants.
In surgery, they are usually accompanied by flat, comfortable walking shoes that allow for maximum movement in the operating room.
Why are These Uniforms Called “Scrubs”?
Originally, this type of uniform was designed for exclusive use by surgeons and other operating room staff members.
Back then, the surgical outfit was initially referred to as “surgical greens” because of its green color.
Throughout time, it came to be nicknamed “scrubs” due to the fact it was worn in a “scrubbed” environment and since doctors and nurses would put them on when thoroughly washing their hands and arms, sterilizing themselves (aka “scrubbing in”), before they could enter the operating room and start the procedure.
Purpose of Color Coded Scrubs
Some medical institutions have strict color-coding requirements, while others don’t.
The purpose of color-coding is to create more clarity of professional role identity for patients and their relatives and to standardize how caregivers look.
It offers a simple and convenient visual shorthand that helps identifying care providers and differentiate one staff member’s specialty or department from another.
The ability to easily recognize an employee’s job function increases patient satisfaction, improves interpersonal communication and offers better access to staff.
Why Do Medical Professionals Wear Them?
Every day, medical staff may come in direct contact with a variety of different contaminants, bodily waste and biohazardous materials such as blood, saliva, urine, vomit, stool, sem*n and a host of other fluids or chemicals.
The sanitized garments are designed to shield the healthcare worker from the potentially harmful substances and liquids.
Scrubs are used to protect health care professionals from exposure to hazardous materials and protect patients from infections, as these garments are sterilized before use.
In an ongoing effort to keep the medical environment as sterile as possible, scrubs help surgeons, physicians, nurses and other patient-care staff to keep cross-contamination and disease spread hazards to a minimum.
Where Are Scrubs Being Worn?
In recent decades, scrubs have become the standard workwear, which replaced the traditional all-white uniforms in the entire medical industry.
They are worn by almost all employees in medical facilities such as doctors, registered nurses, technicians, respiratory and physical therapists, technologists and sometimes even by clerical and administrative staff.
The types of organizations that use scrubs as their work clothes include:
- Hospitals
- Medical centers
- Clinics
- Laboratories
- Veterinary clinics
- Animal hospitals
- Dental offices
- Opticians
- Nursing homes / Assisted living facilities
- Ambulatory centers
- Rehab centers
- Nursing homes
- Private caregivers
Scrub Benefits
Wearing medical uniforms in a health services environment serves several purposes and offers a number of key benefits. Here are a few of them:
- Protection: Scrubs help prevent the spread of bacteria, infectious germs or any other harmful substances and dangerous spills that could potentially contaminate the work environment.They provide a more sterile, antiseptic and hygienic work space, which benefits patients, medical staff and visitors alike.
- Convenience & Usability: Scrubs offer a lot of pocket space in the pants and top, which helps to get the work done more efficiently.The pockets can be used to carry a variety of commonly used functional items that are required to perform the ongoing duties.
These include IV caps, swabs, scissors, gloves, a pen, flashlight or even a mobile phone. - Easily Removable: Easy and quick removal of the outfit is imperative in the event that there is contact with a contaminant.Their looser fit makes them simple for health care practitioners to put on and take off whenever needed.
- Easy To Clean: Healthcare organizations use high temperature autoclaves and special cleaning detergents to sanitize and disinfect scrubs.
- Cost-Effective: Basic scrubs are usually inexpensive, which makes them easy to replace in case of wear, damage or irremovable stains, without massive financial investment by the worker or the healthcare institution.
- Personnel Identification and Classification: This type of visual information is a convenient, effective and easy way of distinguishing doctors from nurses and other staff as well as their professional departments.
- Comfort: Scrubs are made of lightweight fabrics that are comfortable to wear and permit maximum freedom of movement, especially during long and intense shifts.They offer the appropriate balance between safety and personal comfort.
- Fashionable: Modern-day scrubs come in different styles, patterns, colors and designs and offer a casual, clean and elegant look, which make wearer presentable.Healthcare organizations that don’t enforce a stringent dress code policy enable their employees to diversify their wardrobe and wear various colors and patterns.
- Professionalism: Official organizational medical attire communicates a professional image and instills confidence, trust and a greater sense of security among patients.Wearing clean, tidy and properly fitted uniforms create a respectable unified look and project attention to detail and care.
- Atmosphere: Any type of workplace uniform can help build a strong sense of community and promote an atmosphere of belonging, collegiality and pride.It’s an effective way to develop a spirit of unity and solidarity among the facility’s staff.
What Do Scrub Shopping Websites Offer?
The medical apparel industry offers professionals that work in the healthcare sector a broad selection of workwear items in a variety of sizes (including plus-size and maternity styles), colors and prints.
The majority of employees in this field tend to work long hours including frequent night shifts and weekends, which leaves very little room in the busy schedule for mainstream shopping. Buying scrubs online is convenient and saves the unnecessary trips to brick and mortar stores.
The leading online retailers offer extensive catalogs that include items such as:
- Tops
- Bottoms / Pants
- Scrub Sets
- Jackets
- Fluid Resistant Apparel
- Antimicrobial Wear
- Lab Coats
- T-Shirts & Underscrubs
- Caps & Hats
- Shoes & Clogs
Paying for Medical Uniforms with PayPal
Most popular online scrub suppliers in the market accept a variety of payment methods, including PayPal.
