Scrubs can be defined as the garments doctors, nurses, and other operating room staff dress in when a surgery is in progress. They usually come in pairs of short sleeved shirts and drawstring pants, or sometimes in the form of a gown, tailored to promote cleanliness and minimalism. Their austere design makes them trouble-free to wash, hard for germs to hide in, and inexpensive to buy new ones when they become permanently tarnished or spoiled. They commonly come in shades of green, but throughout the years, more hues have been accepted to differentiate doctors from nurses and from other staff members, as well as to showcase colors reminiscent of the emblem of the institution the wearer works for.

Before the invention of scrubs, doctors would usually practice surgical procedures in their casual garb with just the addition of an apron to safeguard their outfits from bloodstains and the like. It wasn’t until well into the 1900s that surgeons started wearing attires specifically made for operations. Before, having a plethora of blood on their clothes would indicate the efficaciousness and the popularity of a surgeon. However, due to the 1918 Spanish Flu, and the increasing acceptance of the medical world to Lister’s antiseptic model, a number of doctors started to sport gauze masks when performing surgeries, not to shield patients from contaminations, but to instead keep themselves free of the patients’ ailments.

By the arrival of even more developments in the study of wound contamination and aseptic technique during the 1940s, the utilization of antibacterial curtains and gowns prevalent in the operating room. It was also during this time that the process of sterilization of surgical equipment, by way of contact to ethylene oxide gas or a high pressure steam, became a necessary step that must be done before conducting any surgical procedures. Then by the 1950s until the 1960s, surgical wear in different green hues became the main choice of apparel. This is due to the fact that white attires combined with the blinding lights and white walls and ceilings of operating rooms gave eye fatigue to surgeons, nurses and staff. However, with the then newly being accepted green medical wear, eye strain was lessened and splotches of blood on the said fabric didn’t look as obvious as to when white was still the prescribed fashion.

It was in the 1970s that the scrubs of today finally came about. Green cotton or polyester-cotton short-sleeved gowns of lengths reaching below one’s knees, or short-sleeved shirts with a V shaped neckline paired with drawstring pants of the same color and material became the staple outfit for hospital personnel. Additionally, closed shoes, latex gloves, a synthetic textile or gauze mask, a bouffant-style or tie-back cloth cap, and a synthetic or cloth surgical gown were worn over the scrubs when one participates in performing any surgical procedures. Due to its color, this attire was then termed as “surgical greens”. As time went by, however, the name was decisively changed to “scrubs” because of the “scrubbed” set of conditions one wears these garbs to.

Author Bio: Are you looking for more information regarding Scrubs ?