EARLY HISTORY OF SCRUBS

Scrubs are the approved uniform of medical staff around the world. The history of medical scrubs can be traced back to the early 20th century, when surgeons wore their own clothes, under a butcher’s apron to protect their clothing from blood stains. The full uniform that we know today as ‘scrubs’ was introduced in the 1940s and used by surgeons and other operating room personnel, who would put them on when sterilising themselves, or “scrubbing in”, before surgery. Originally, operating room attire (scrubs) were all made white in an effort to emphasise cleanliness. However, the combination of brilliant operating lights and an all-white environment was said to have led to eye strain for surgeon and other medical staff alike. So, by the 1950s and 1960s, many hospitals had discarded white operating room apparel in favour of assorted shades of green, which many of us recognise today as the standard teal scrubs we see in hospitals and emergency rooms around the world.

MODERN HISTORY OF SCRUBS

By the 1970s, medical apparel had largely reached its modern design—a short-sleeve V-necked shirt and drawstring pants or a short-sleeve calf-length dress, made of green cotton or cotton/polyester blend. What is more, today, any medical uniform comprising of a short-sleeve shirt and pants is known as “scrubs”. Scrubs are now worn by most hospital workers, and their use has been extended outside hospitals to include veterinary clinics, private practises and dental surgeries, and other such work environments where clothing may come into contact with infectious agents and where scrubs are required to help minimise contagions and pathogens from spreading.

SCRUBS IN AUSTRALIA

The hospital scrub, is simply a given for most of Australia’s 1 million health-care workers, and is as essential as coffee and sleep. And today, scrubs have evolved to not only allow staff and patients the ability to instantly recognise an individual’s role in a team by the colour of their scrubs, but in some instances and specialist areas such as paediatrics, scrubs can now include fun and funky patterns like Christmas, sporting or animal themes. Australian Medical staff, just like everyone else, want to feel proud about how they look, and want to feel confident. Here at Mediscrubs, we just want to supply men’s scrubs and women’s scrubs and medical uniforms that allows our customers to look great and feel special and fabulous all year round.