What is the functional reason for medical personnel to wear scrubs?

What is the functional reason for medical personnel to wear scrubs?

By Josephine Reid 

Medical scrubs serve many purposes and play a big role in the day to day functions of medical personnel. They are easy to clean - and keep clean, are easy to slip on and off, and have the necessary compartments to store professional and personal items.

Nurses first began using medical scrubs during the 70’s and 80’s. The major cultural shift during that decade caused scrubs to become the main uniform for the medical staff. The pants and shirt were easier to move which meant more functionality for a greater number of patients to receive treatment.

Doctors and nurses in hospitals encounter blood and bodily fluids in large quantities. There is no way of knowing when or how often blood or other fluids will get on the medical scrubs. It's crucial to be able to get in and out of scrubs as quickly as possible.

The color of medical scrubs also serves as a function, with the color green being one example. Wearing green has been proven to be easier on a surgeon’s eyes. Green is the opposite of red – the color of blood. The brain becomes desensitized to the color red if someone stares at it long enough. Looking at something green from time to time can keep the eyes more sensitive to the color red, which would obviously benefit the surgeons and their patients.

Medical Scrubs come with pockets in the pants and top that help professionals get work done during the day. These pockets make it possible to carry a cell phone and slide items into side pockets. Breast pockets make room for your pens, pencils and more. There are many tasks that constantly need to get done in just one day, making scrubs a necessary part of basic functions for being a nurse or doctor. With scrubs, one can get all the functionality that would come from casual clothes, while staying dressed appropriately for work in a medical environment.

I'm Josephine Reid and I work at Dressamed.com headquarters in Los Angeles. I have a B.S. in Retail Merchandising and Business from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. I like to keep a beautiful balance of a creativity and business mindset.