Scrubs (clothing)

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.

The spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has increased the use of scrubs but can give wearers a false sense of security that they are 'clean' when in fact they are as easily contaminated as any other clothing.

In contrast to the uniforms long required of nurses, surgeons did not wear any kind of specialized garments until well into the 20th century.Surgical procedures were conducted in an operating theater. The surgeon wore his own clothes, with perhaps a butcher's apron to protect his clothing from blood stains, and he operated bare-handed with non-sterile instruments and supplies. (Gut and silk sutures were sold as open strands with reusable hand-threaded needles; packing gauze was made of sweepings from the floors of cotton mills.) In contrast to today's concept of surgery as a profession that emphasizes cleanliness and conscientiousness, up to the early 20th century the mark of a busy and successful surgeon was the profusion of blood and fluids on his clothes. The importance of dress as a badge of one's class in society was paramount and the processes behind the transmission of infection were the subject of controversy within the profession.

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