Care, Cleaning and Maintenance of your Dickies Scrubs

Although medical uniforms and nursing scrubs have come a long way from the bleached and starched whites of yesteryear allowing organizations and individuals to choose from a wide variety of cuts and colors which marry fashion with functionality, the underlying message behind this clothing is one of cleanliness.

Patients (and their family and friends) do not want to see medical or nursing uniforms which are stained, have obvious perspiration marks or appear rumpled or torn. Not only does this give an unprofessional impression but it can also be incidents of cross-contamination spreading infection and where this includes blood borne infections might leave the organization or individual liable under OSHA.

Cleaning, care and maintenance of your Dickies medical scrubs is an important ongoing discipline to maintain during your working day. You should always have at least one spare medical uniform to change into, more if you anticipate heavy demands being made on your clothing.

Dickies medical apparel is made from polyester cotton. This is a breathable fabric which helps keep you perspiration free. This is important because using deodorants or other antiperspirants may not be an option where there is a chance that a patient could have an allergic reaction to those products. These days the fabric has built in soil release technology which helps reduce staining. The garments are machine-washable and retain their bright colors, whether a warm or cold wash is used. As part of the cleaning process to prevent micro-bacterial infection as well as to prevent wrinkling, your medical scrubs should be ironed.

Where there is a chance of cross-contamination whether from a blood borne infection or other source (such as feces), when you change your medical apparel you should bag and label your contaminated scrubs and sterilize your hands. Contaminated scrubs should be dealt with by trained staff wearing appropriate protective clothing and equipment. They should record itemized pick ups, cleaning and delivery and it is good practice to bag washed scrubs to insure re-contamination does not take place by accident. It is common to outsource cleaning arrangements to specialist firms to ensure compliance to OSHA. Finally, it is important to ensure that you have not accidentally left sharps or scissors in your scrubs when you change. These can tear the fabric and could also lead to a sharps accident and a high risk of blood borne infection.