Should Your Hospital Order Custom Scrubs for Your Team?

Medical professionals wear scrubs on a daily basis, so should you have your healthcare professionals get their own scrubs, or should you order custom scrubs for your team?

Scrubs have been the default uniform for healthcare professionals for decades, dating back to the inception of antisepsis measures in modern day Western healthcare, and the switch from reusable medical supplies to safer, sterile disposable equipment and much more stringent anti-infection measures.

Rather than simply sticking to aprons and lab coats that doctors have worn for so long, the switch to scrub uniforms can be justified by their simple design, the fact that they are easy-to-launder, and relatively low material cost. However, over the years, scrubs have become more than just simple sets of cheap fabric.

Advances in antimicrobial fabric, more efficient production, and a greater variety of options for scrub fabric composition as well as a vastly expanded list of styles, cuts, colors, and functionality has led to the creation of the modern day scrub – a vast amalgamation of options giving each set of scrub bottoms and tops its own unique personal flair.

Scrubs Today

Today, nurses and doctors can opt for:

• More or fewer pockets
• Wrap-style tops or faux-wraps
• V-cut necklines or simple circle collars
• Different arm lengths
• Different pantleg cuts
• Variations in terms of taper and seam, drawstring versus elastic or both, and much more

Individuals can choose between styles that contour to their natural shape, or simpler unisex designs that fit and look good on any body type. Scrubs come with considerations made for every height, weight, and stage in life, including petite and tall sets, plus sized scrubs, and maternity scrubs.

Why Custom Scrubs?

With such a lengthy list of options, it becomes ever more difficult to figure out what works best for you. Hospitals and practices employing a variety of medical staff have long battled with how best to approach their employees’ uniforms, with a number of different options.

Some hospitals prefer to provide their employees with a standardized uniform. Others opt for a strict color code. Others leave it up to the discretion of their employees, with certain limits and rules. The same goes for private practices and smaller clinics.

But one option that is often overlooked is the implementation of entirely custom scrubs for a whole team or organization. Custom scrubs can:

• Help a medical team stand out
• Differentiate individuals
• Help patients immediately ascertain who specializes in what
• Help make a difference towards establishing a hospital or clinic’s brand identity.

With so many different quality providers for scrubs, most hospitals and clinics feel spoiled for choice. But the variety also provides a valuable opportunity to establish a fresh identity based on simple design elements like color and embroidery.

It’s important to establish an identity separate from one’s competition, especially in the field of healthcare, where retailization, patient satisfaction, and convenience continue to become much more important.

Healthcare facilities need to continue to focus on patients as customers and realize that an important part of providing quality care is being able to market that care and give it a unique brand. This is especially important in increasingly competitive markets like the urgent care and walk-in markets, where clinics continue to pop up at an incredible rate, and demand remains high.

The Use of Color Coding in Scrubs

Color coding describes the use of color to differentiate between different teams and departments. This is distinct from the existing hospital color code, which is used as a communicative shorthand for different emergencies and situations.

Hospital color coding as part of the dress code can be useful to help patients better distinguish between different departments and specializations, such as separating technicians from nurses and doctors, or oncologists from pediatricians, and so on.

Aside from providing another visual indicator of what kind of work someone does, the use of color can be especially helpful to provide your team with a custom, unique look. Scrubs today do not rely on a single color, and do not always have to be blue or green (or a combination of both).

Some hospitals use ‘color psychology’ to help patients more easily identify what kind of work someone does, with softer colors like pink representing those working in the maternity ward, while yellow is a common choice for pediatrics.

Originally, scrubs were either blue or green (hence the British colloquialism, ‘theatre blues’). This color choice is believed to have been chosen by surgeons as a direct contrast to the striking red of blood and viscera, which can cause the eyes to strain and tire (especially with all the white previously worn in the operating room).

A colleague’s blue or green fabric would help give the eyes a different color to look at and ‘refresh’ during the long hours of a difficult surgery. Plus, the contrast meant that any blood spatter would turn into a muted dark brown or black once it hit the fabric, rather than a distressing and scary crimson. Blue and green are still popular choices for scrub colors.

What Quality Scrubs Say About You

Rather than opting for disposable scrubs with little to no personality, a set of custom scrubs evokes a much more trustworthy image. We know that appearance plays a significant role in patient satisfaction and affects how trustworthy a doctor or nurse appears.

While a doctor or nurse’s competence and communicative skills are more important towards leaving a lasting positive impression on a patient, the wrong clothing choice can start you off on a setback rather than a neutral or positive reception.

Opting for a quality set of custom scrubs can help exude more confidence and tell a patient that they’re in good hands; a physician who invests in their professional appearance may be seen as more invested in their profession in general.

For nurses and doctors, quality scrubs are about much more than just appearance. Good work uniforms are made to suit the job, and the job of a healthcare professional is quite active and demanding. Scrubs need to be built to withstand the stress and pressure of a busy workday and require:

• The use of qualitative materials
• Ability to move and stretch with a person
• Offer high mobility
• Contain moisture wicking material, and more

What About Embroidery?

Patients may feel more at ease when they can put a name to the face, and an embroidered set of scrubs can help patients remember who you are, and what you do. Among departments and teams, color and embroidery can add to the feeling of camaraderie, as uniforms generally do.

Embroidery can also help with branding, giving your team or clinic a more distinct visual style. Like all forms of branding, this helps patients retain a more vivid memory of the clinic’s brand and help word of mouth. More than just a simple uniform, a comfortable set of unique, custom scrubs help set your team or practice apart from the rest.