Medical Uniforms Then and Now
If we will base on the history, many changes took place before today’s nurses and dentists started using scrubs suits. That obviously, they are more comfortable using today’s suits compared to using the traditional all-white dress uniforms for ladies and a pair of white uniforms for men. Because apart from being difficult to maintain its clean white color, it also gets dirty easily.
The scrubs suits maintain their simple yet modernized design. These suits or also called dental uniforms are made with materials that allow the wearer to move with greater mobility and comfort. Unlike before, we can see the medical facilities to be surrounded with white uniforms, the scrubs suits today can be worn in different colors.
The Use of Scrub Suits
Aside from Dentists and Nurses, Home health aides, caretakers, Nursing assistants, Medical assistants, Pharmacy technicians, and other medical professionals wear scrubs suits.
Scrubs suits are protective clothing that medical practitioners use to protect them from infectious contact with substances or fluids. These are made with high-quality and thick enough fabric that will serve as a barrier to prevent that substance from making direct contact with the wearer’s skin.
This type of suit also lets identification easily recognized. Some departments administer the use of color-coding scrubs suits per day. Plus, it offers maximum pocket space that is useful during hospital duty.
Ways To Keep Your Dental or Nursing Uniforms Clean as a Mum
After the long day of hospital or clinic duty, your scrubs suits end up having a worn-out shape and totally exposed to bacteria and germs. A thorough clean must be done before having it used for another day of duty. This is to ensure the safety of themselves, their patients, and their colleagues.
Keep reading and learn the proper ways to keep your medical uniforms clean.
- Wash your scrubs suits in warm water
Once you get back home, wash your suits in warm water. The best temperature for cleaning fabrics is around 90 degrees F. This helps save the color of the suit or any fabric from fading. - Remove stains on the suits before washing them
Stains such as blood, ointment, or other bodily fluids are inevitable if you are working in a hospital. You’ll need to remove these stains on your suits before completely washing them. Otherwise, they will remain in the suit and set there.There are different ways to treat different kinds of stains and these can be done as follow:
- Oil-based stains such as ointment must be washed with lukewarm water to soften the residue and gradually remove it. The use of cold water can harden the oil stain.
- Blood must be washed with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Just add only a small amount of the substance and put it directly to the stain. Then wash it with running cold water. As opposed to the oil-based stain, washing the bloodstain can make the blood hold onto the fabric even more.
- Liquid medicines stains must be washed with an oxygen-based bleach along with cold water.
- Bodily fluids such as urine, feces, and vomit must be treated with baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and cold water. Sprinkle the stain with baking soda and a hydrogen peroxide solution. Then wash it with cold water as usual.
- And the Iodine-based stain must be washed with dish soap and white vinegar. It requires also the use of warm water to pretreat iodine stains.
- It is important that you wash your suits right after you remove them off to avoid the spread of microbes. Or if you are not able to do it right away, make sure that you store them separately from the rest of the dirty laundry.
- Wash scrubs separately
As much as we want to store them separately, we want to wash them separately, too, from the other clothes. Hospital uniforms are a lot more contaminated as compared to other clothes. - Turn the suits inside out when washing
We want to make sure that the suits are properly cleaned. That makes it important to be a part of the protocol to wash it from the inside to the outside. This also keeps the fabric its good condition. - Use bleach only for disinfecting
Remember that constant use of bleach can threaten the color or material of the fabric. Make sure to use it only for disinfecting. Thus, you can use an alternative for disinfecting the suit. Add ½ cup of white vinegar to the load to help disinfect them.
There you have it, the 7 ways to keep your medical uniforms clean as a mum. By following the above-stated ways, you can guarantee to take good care of your scrub suits and be able to use them for a longer term.