Medical scrubs are basic and functional closet essentials for every healthcare provider. It’s long been considered their permanent uniform and has come to represent their authority, competence, and professionalism. Moreover, wearing a medical scrub has been regarded a badge of honor for a lot of healthcare providers. This uniform symbolizes all their hard work and dedication in the industry.
For healthcare practitioners—nurses, specialists, physicians, medical interns, and the like—medical scrubs are crucial work attires that offer protection and support to hectic work routines and schedules. Because these garments are worn nearly every day, professionals have to learn to care for them to increase their longevity.
Caring For Your Medical Scrubs
Proper care of medical scrubs is a tough challenge for majority of healthcare workers. Due to constant exposure to potential risks, scrubs have to be washed and sanitized thoroughly. This ensures the protection of the wearer, their family, peers, and patients. With this, scrubs may gradually look faded and worn out.
Because of this, some healthcare professionals feel the need to purchase new scrubs and replace the old ones regularly. However, this might not be practical, especially for people who are on a budget. With this in mind, it would be excellent to look for and invest in quality scrubs made out of durable, blended fabric material.
Today, there are a lot of online retailers and manufacturing companies that offer quality medical scrubs. You may visit keswi.com or other similar shops that provide a variety of styles and options. With proper care, you can secure scrubs that would last you for a long time. Always remember that it’s better to spend your money on a few, quality scrubs that can be worn for several years rather than dispensing chunks of your savings on cheap garments. The latter might even start to become faded after a few washes.
Ways To Care For Your Scrubs
Although these garments shouldn’t be expected to last forever, there are still ways to extend their longevity. Here are four ways to take care of your medical scrubs:
- Treat Stains Immediately
Given the nature of your work. you never know what types of stains you’ll get on your uniform on your daily shift. To minimize its odds of becoming a permanent stain, directly blot alcohol on it the moment you notice it. Better yet, use a stain treatment before you wash your scrubs. Place the solution on the stained areas and leave it on for a few hours. This is a practical way to prepare your scrubs before washing.
Additionally, you may not be able to notice stains and spills, especially if you’re wearing a patterned design or a dark-toned scrub top. For these, make sure to examine your uniform as soon as you get home from a long day at work. If you discover ink or coffee spills, fret not. By following the aforementioned tip, you may can get rid of the stain as soon as possible.
People don’t always give it recognition, but a clean, crisp, and well-washed work uniform is one of the looks that will never go out of style.
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Wash Your Scrubs Separately
Avoid taking shortcuts when it comes to washing your scrubs. Even though they’re in the same color, don’t attempt to throw your medical scrubs with your towels, sheets, and other garments. Take note that washing your medical scrubs is going to be different compared to washing your ordinary laundry clothes.
For your convenience, it would be best to have a separate laundry basket for your scrubs. This will help you minimize the time needed to sort them out when you’re about to do your laundry. Also, this will help you avoid getting discolorations from other clothing items. Ultimately, separating them ahead keeps the germs and pathogens away from contaminating your other clothing pieces.
- Pre-treat Your Scrubs Before Wearing
Due to constant hospital exposure, you must learn to disinfect your medical scrubs thoroughly. However, bear in mind that the disinfecting process may be too harsh for your garments. When not done properly, this may lead to faded-looking, scruffy medical scrubs. You wouldn’t want to wear this kind of uniform as this may affect your confidence and may cause you to look unprofessional.
If you’ve recently purchased a new set of scrubs, pre-treat them before wearing. The pre-treatment process is performed by most medical professionals to keep the scrub’s color crisp before it goes through a series of washings. Also, this may help maintain their good condition.
To pre-treat your scrubs, take half a cup of vinegar and mix it with cold water. The vinegar serves to keep the color immaculate and reduce its chances of fading.
- Wash Your Scrubs Twice
As mentioned, scrubs are functional garments that can protect you from contaminants, bodily fluids, infections, and other harmful pathogens that can be a threat to your health. With this in mind, medical scrubs should be properly cleaned and sanitized before wearing them for work. Your uniform should be washed carefully to eliminate all the tough dirt, grime, germs and other harmful substances.
After separating your scrubs from all your other clothing items, start to load them up and wash them in two cycles. Once you’re done, run them in your drier for thirty minutes. However, make sure not to overdo it as this may affect the quality of your clothes.
Then, iron your medical scrubs with a hot press to keep them neat and ready for your next duty. Also, ironing them properly may help kill the remaining contaminants that might have survived during the two different cycles.
Wrapping It Up
As your permanent work attire, it’s crucial to deliberately take care of your medical scrubs to boost their longevity and keep them fresh, clean, and crisp. Likewise, having a clean and well-maintained uniform helps reflect your personality and professionalism at work. Apart from this, thoroughly washing them helps you and your patients stay safe and healthy.
