American hospital staff wearing scrubs in the United States. |
Scrubs are the sanitary clothing worn by surgeons, nurses, physicians and other workers involved in patient care in hospitals. Originally designed for use by surgeons and other operating room personnel, who would put them on when sterilizing themselves, or "scrubbing in", before surgery,
they are now worn by many hospital personnel. Their use has been
extended outside hospitals as well, to work environments where clothing
may come into contact with infectious agents (veterinarians, midwives, etc.). Scrubs are designed to be simple (with minimal places for contaminants
to hide), easy to launder, and cheap to replace if damaged or stained
irreparably. In the United Kingdom, scrubs are sometimes known as
Theatre Blues.
Nearly all patient care personnel at hospitals in the United States wear
some form of scrubs while on duty, as do some staffers in doctor,
dental, and veterinary offices. Doctors in the United States may wear
their own clothes with a white coat
except for surgery. Support staff such as custodians and unit clerks
also wear scrubs in some facilities. When the physician is not
performing surgery, the scrub is often worn under a white coat.
White coats are sometimes seen as the distinctive dress of both physicians and surgeons, who have worn them for over 100 years. In the nineteenth century, respect for the certainty of science was in stark contrast to the quackery and mysticism
of nineteenth century medicine. To emphasize the transition to the
more scientific approach of modern medicine, physicians began to
represent themselves as scientists, donning the most recognizable symbol
of the scientist, the white laboratory coat.
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