| The use of a special medical uniform for surgical and | | | | have a sanitary environment in the operating room, |
| other procedures was not normal practice until the | | | | medical staff professionals began wearing white |
| early part of the twentieth century. Surgical | | | | uniforms during surgery and routinely in their daily |
| procedures often took place in large amphitheatres | | | | rounds. |
| where medical students could observe the operations | | | | The first medical scrubs in wide use were white |
| being carried out by the physicians. In most cases the | | | | drapes or gowns which covered the surgeon and |
| surgeons wore everyday street clothing during the | | | | medical assistants during operations. The white colored |
| procedure, except sometimes the surgeons donned | | | | fabrics used in these scrubs symbolized cleanliness. |
| butchers' aprons to protect their clothes. In those days | | | | However, it was soon found that white clothing worn |
| the importance of sterility was not recognized, so | | | | against a background of white sheets and a white |
| instruments and supplies were not commonly sterilized. | | | | surgical environment often caused eyestrain. It was in |
| The sutures used for closing wounds were usually just | | | | the nineteen fifties and sixties that medical and dental |
| gut string sewn with a normal sewing needle which | | | | scrubs, usually of a green or blue color which is more |
| was reused over and over. Even the gauze employed | | | | restful to the eyes and also doesn't show bloodstains |
| to cover the wound was often nothing more than | | | | as readily, came into widespread use. Soon designers |
| remnants taken from cotton mill floors. | | | | of medical apparel began experimenting with different |
| The sea change in medical dress came after the | | | | colors and styles of scrubs, and by the nineteen |
| Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 in which twenty million | | | | eighties it was possible for medical professionals to |
| people died; together with the rise of Lister's theory of | | | | select from a wide array of colors and fashionable |
| antisepsis. The beginning of special medical dress was | | | | designs. Today's medical scrubs range from cheap |
| surgeons and other medical personnel wearing masks, | | | | nursing scrubs to elegantly designed coordinated outfits |
| which was done more to protect the physician from | | | | suitable for street wear; and from short sleeved, V |
| the patient's illness rather than to protect the patient. At | | | | neck shirts with drawstring pants to formal jackets |
| this time too heavy rubber gloves began to be used | | | | and gowns. Fabrics used for medical scrubs come in a |
| by medical staffers to protect themselves from harsh | | | | wide range of solid colors, and feature bright prints |
| chemicals used in cleaning the medical environment. By | | | | (which are popular among medical professionals who |
| the nineteen forties, with the awareness of how | | | | work with children). Durable fabrics, which are easy to |
| wounds can become infected and of the need to | | | | clean, are among the most popular. |