Different kinds of Scrubs

Medical scrubs are worn by nearly all medical personnel who interact with patients.  Even staff members of many doctor’s offices were medical scrubs or nurse’s scrubs.  Medical scrubs come in all types of colors and patterns, though, so how do medical personnel determine which type of medical scrub is right for them?

Pediatric Medical Scrubs
Many medical personnel who work in pediatrics choose to wear medical scrubs that contain cartoon characters or other bright, cheerful prints.  They also often have a variety of medical scrubs to change with the seasons.  For example, they might wear medical scrubs with a Christmas theme around that time of the year or with bunnies on them around Easter time.  These cheerful medical scrubs are intended to put their young patients at ease.

Medical Scrubs for Identification
Many hospitals utilize different colored medical scrubs to help identify the department of staff members.  Common examples include pink or lavender medical scrubs for staff working in labor and delivery.  Light blue medical scrubs are often used to identify those who work in surgery and emergency room personnel often wear dark green or dark blue medical scrubs.

Medical scrubs also sometimes contain the logo or name of the hospital.  This is generally imprinted on the pocket or on the knees of the medical scrubs.  In addition, some university hospitals use customized colors for their medical scrubs, often choosing colors that are the same as the school’s colors.

Medical Scrubs in Surgery
While those who work in the surgery department may wear light blue medical scrubs for identification purposes, nearly all personnel wear solid light green, light blue, or light green-blue medical scrubs while performing surgery.  In some hospitals, however, non-surgical staff are required to wear medical scrubs of a different color in order to distinguish them from the rest of the surgical unit.

Ownership of Medical Scrubs
The wearer usually owns medical scrubs worn for day-to-day purposes.  Surgical scrubs, however, are usually owned by the medical facility.  This is because they need to be properly laundered and sterilized for surgery.  Sometimes hospitals own these surgical scrubs, or they lease them through a commercial linen service.