Is it Safe to Wear Scrubs in Public?

By Jordie Papa

Image courtesy of Uniform Destination

To change, or not to change?  That is the question.  More importantly if you decide to wear your scrubs in public, will you draw unwanted attention from the public?  As you can see in the image at right, I am in the habit of wearing scrubs to work, to lunch and when I go out shopping.  That being said, I own stores that specialize in scrubs. I am not a medical professional.  If you are in the healthcare industry, you have no doubt heard the debate about whether wearing scrubs in public is appropriate. 

      1.      How big of a risk does wearing scrubs pose?

This is actually a trick question, since not everyone who wears scrubs comes into contact with patients.  In hospitals today, everyone from doctors and nurses to food service staff and even maintenance workers who come nowhere near a patient, wear scrubs.  So, the answer to question number one is, “It depends on the job you do and where you perform that job.

2. What if you do come into contact with patients?

Image by Uniform Destination

This is a whole other can of worms.  If you work in an ER, OR, or work on a ward or in a doctor’s office where you routinely come into contact with patients who are ill, the bottom line is you could very well spread germs that have hitched a ride on your scrubs.  In studies conducted in a Connecticut hospital, researchers determined that hospital personnel who entered a room with MRSA patients were 70% likely to pick up the pathogen on their clothing, whether they had direct contact with the patient or not.

3.  Scrubs don’t cost all that much.

The moral of the story above is that if you do come into contact with patients who have any form of communicable disease or bacterial infection, you should definitely change into clean scrubs before you venture outside of any clinical setting.  The same holds true if any bodily fluid finds its way onto your scrubs during a shift.  Simply rinsing contaminated scrubs out in the restroom isn’t going to cut it.  To kill pathogens, your scrubs will need to be laundered.  Sometimes they will even need to be pretreated, depending on the biological material that caused the stain.  If you want to learn more about the proper way to clean soiled scrubs, I suggest you check out my previous blog, entitled, “The Best Ways to Remove Stains from Scrubs.”  You should also keep at least one extra pair of scrubs with you at work at all times.  Face it, a set doesn’t cost all that much and you never know when to expect the unexpected.

4. Scrubs Phobia

Image courtesy of Uniform Destination

As part of my research for this blog, I encountered a number of blogs, newsfeeds and social posts where select members of the public practically foamed at the mouth in their fear of people who wore scrubs at busy restaurants.  A few professional writers have recently latched onto the frenzy, no doubt to spur readership.  Here’s a snippet from the Atlantic written by Dr. James Hamblin:

Scrubs-outside-the-hospital has been an issue for a while. Lots of places have policies against it, but it still happens. To be fair, though, most people you see probably aren't walking right out of surgery or anything.  Doctors' opinions are all over the place on how dangerous this all really is. Some think that even pens and cell phones shouldn't be taken in and out of hospitals, but some say it's all blown way out of proportion. There's at least some degree of cognitive dissonance in looking at the number of doctors who do it and the number who agree it's bad.

5. What’s the solution?

Since you can’t please all the people all the time, in my opinion the only solution is to use your judgment when it comes to wearing scrubs in public (at least until the public starts to embrace them as a fashion statement).  Never venture outside a medical setting with scrubs that are stained or have possibly been contaminated.  Always keep a fresh pair on hand and be prepared to defend your right to wear scrubs to a public that has been inflamed by the media. 

Jordie Papa is owner of Uniform Destination with four locations in North Florida.