Why are medical scrubs so popular?

Mandatory Color Coding Uniforms within the Medical Field

The field of medicine is full of various different role, departments and workers. In fact, there are so many departments it is rare that we will be able to name even half of them without some form of help. Many of us will have visited a hospital at some time in our life- whether it is to visit a loved one, as a patient for a certain period of time or even if we have had to have some tests taken; it is possible that when it came to being to identify our own department or caregiver it is somewhat impossible. We are all aware of the staple uniform which is worn by hospital workers which is the traditional scrubs, but as in some cases patients may also be wearing scrubs, it can be extremely difficult to pick those whom we need to converse with.

A recent study by a nursing publication researched into the issues which arose from the lack of identification which was given to the different areas in which hospital staff work within. In a typical scenario, we would usually converse with a nurse whom can provide us with the necessary information we require, or provide us with someone who can answer our questions for us. However, in most cases, those who were asked found that when searching for a nurse they were unable to differentiate between the  Nurses and Health Care Assistants whom are unable to provide them with any medical information. This can be an extremely embarrassing scenario to experience, not to mention extremely frustrating as you are left to search for an appropriate staff member- and with up to 13 different roles dressed in a similar manner, this makes this task extremely difficult.

Due to this issue, the need for color-coding was finally realized and introduced into the medical field. Nursing involves different departments of expertise as well as different levels which provides the need for each type of nurse to be indicated by the color in which he or she wears. For example, all nurses may be dressed in pink, whilst Health Care Assistants may wear yellow as a means to differentiate between the two. In many hospitals, brochures are now included within each patient admission pack in order for both visitors and patients to be able to find a suitable employee in the even that they have any questions or an issue with the patient occurs. Not only will this save time, but in the event of an emergency it can also potentially save a life.

It is common that we will identify a Doctor automatically by the white lab coats in which they traditionally wear, but it is important to remember that Doctors alone do not help the overall running of the hospital and the care of the patients. Nurses are generally the employees in which a patient or visitor will want to speak with regarding a variety of different matters, and using a color coding method, this is now made much easier and also provides the person in question which a sense of reassurance that they are speaking with the correct member of staff.

Hospitals are used as a means to help take care of the sick and get them back on their feet, but this does not stop at just providing medical help, but also by making them happier about the environment in which they are in. With the simple use of color-coded scrubs, patients are now provided with a sense of reassurance and security and so are free to relax and do their role within the  hospital which is to get the rest in which they need.