What To Look For When Buying Scrubs?
Scrubs are a common uniform worn by medical personnel in the healthcare settings. They are a type of protective clothing that prevents cross-contamination between the patients and caregivers. Wearing scrubs creates a barrier between the wearer and harmful pathogens present in the environment. In addition to the prevention of cross-contamination, scrubs offer a number of other benefits as well. Knowing them well helps in the correct selection of scrubs.
Why do Healthcare Workers wear Scrubs?
- Prevent Potential Contamination: Scrubs are a great help in preventing the incident of bodily wastes such as urine, stool, vomit, blood and other chemicals on the normal clothes.
- Protect Personal Clothing From Being Spoiled: Scrubs prevent the normal clothes from coming in the direct contact of the bodily fluids and other chemicals, thereby preventing them from getting spoiled. Also, the inexpensive cost of scrubs make them a more preferable option than normal clothes in medical settings where coming in contact with different types of fluid is common.
- Provide Storage For Easy Accessibility: Some scrub styles have a lot of pockets to store nursing tools and equipment like pens, pencils, scissors, pen lights, notepads, gloves, etc. Keeping these tools in the pockets make them easily accessible, especially in the case of emergencies.
- More Hygienic Than Regular Clothing: Many healthcare facilities wash the scrubs of their nurses and doctors before they are worn again. Since they are washed by the healthcare settings, it is obvious that they will be cleaner than regular clothes and healthcare workers will not be carrying around the potential germs or contaminants on their clothing.
- Help In Identifying The Staff: When whole of the staff is wearing the same type of clothes, it gets easier to identify the hospital personnel amongst the patients and visitors. Different departments like orthopedics, neonatal care, cardiology, neurology, etc. can have different colored scrubs to distinguish between the employees.
- Create A Uniform Organisation: Just like school dresses make a school look uniform, nursing scrubs make a hospital setting look uniform and professional.
How to Choose the Right Scrub?
1. Foremost Comes The Fit
While choosing scrubs, it is important to consider their fit and size. They should not be too loose that they come in your way when you are doing work. At the same time, they should not be too tight that they restrict your movement. Choose flexible or stretchy scrubs that maximize the range of movement and make you feel comfortable.
Scrub Tops:
- Check whether the product you are buying is unisex or sized for men and women separately. Women scrubs slightly curve inward at the waist to follow their body contour while men and unisex scrubs have a straight fit.
- It is also important to consider the scrub top length while buying scrubs. The length of the top should be such that it covers you properly below the hips while you work.
- Scrub tops should not be too low cut so that the patients do not get an eyeful when you bend down to diagnose them. This applies to both men and women.
- Tops with vents or side slits increase comfort and provide air.
Scrub Pants:
- Go for a pant style that best suits your body shape and work duties. If you opt for flare leg scrub pants, they will balance out your bust or hips, but may drag on the ground and trip you up if you are petite.
- Scrub pants are usually accompanied with drawstrings or buttons to hold them in place. Both of them can be used to adjust the pant according to your waist, but drawstrings are more preferable than buttons if you experience weight fluctuations.
2. Never Compromise With The Material
Make sure that you choose the scrub with a soft and comfortable material because then you have to wear these protective apparels all day long. You can choose 100% cotton, cotton and polyester mix, or other blends as per your requirements. If you encounter a lot of germs and bodily fluids at work, it is preferable that you go for stain-resistant and antimicrobial scrubs. It will be a treat if your scrubs are moisture-wicking as well. They will keep you cool and dry throughout the day.
3. Do You Need Pockets?
It depends on your work that how many pockets you will need while doing your work or whether you will not need them at all. Pockets can be found in scrub tops, pants, and jackets. They can be used to store alcohol pads, scissors, pens, and many other items which are frequently required throughout the day and need easy access. If putting things in the chest pocket puts pressure on your neck, then you can look for scrub pants with pockets.
4. Colors Do Count
When you are buying scrubs, get sure about what type of color scheme is required in your healthcare setting. There is a wide range of colors to choose from and it totally depends on your personal preferences. Green and blue are few colors that are mostly seen in the hospitals. They suit both the petite and plus size individuals. Dark colors, like the wine, navy and black have the ability to reduce size and better suit individuals with plus sizes. On the other hand, light colors make individuals look big and are suited for petite people.
5. What Are You Wearing Beneath Scrubs?
While choosing scrubs, it is also important to take into consideration that whether you are going to wear something under your scrub top and pant. If you are going to wear something, then your scrub should cover what you are wearing inside. If not, then your scrub should be thick enough to cover your body properly. Consider all the above-mentioned points while buying scrubs. They will help you choose a scrub that will compliment your body type and help you do your work more efficiently.
Consider all the above-mentioned points while buying scrubs. They will help you choose a scrub that will compliment your body type and help you do your work more efficiently.
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Originally published at www.patient-room.com
