Few clothing types provide the same level of protection as nurses uniforms when it comes to workwear.
Nursing uniforms, which exist in the form of scrubs, tunics, tunic dresses, and trousers, are worn by nurses, doctors, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals worldwide.
This selection of garments results from years of research to locate garments that provide the most benefits to medics.
The following are the top five advantages nursing uniforms provide medical professionals:
- Improve staff safety
- Easy to thoroughly clean
- Help staff be identifiable
- Cheap to purchase
- Help nurses do their job
Nursing uniforms help keep medical staff safe
Medical staff work in conditions that frequently expose them to infectious substances, so their uniforms must serve as the first line of defence for infection control.
The majority of nursing uniforms include body protection (scrubs, trousers, tunics, and shoes) and extremities protection in the form of PPE (gloves, face masks and aprons).
Body and extremity protection are intended to serve as a barrier between the wearer and any infectious substances. This barrier lessens the possibility of the medic becoming infected, infecting others, and transmitting infectious chemicals to other regions.
Scrubs, for example, prevent infectious material from reaching the medic and provide a wipe-clean surface for the medic to disinfect. Similarly, gloves operate as a barrier to prevent bacteria from entering the wearer’s skin and causing an infection.
nurses uniforms also help to keep its wearers safe by meeting stringent durability and bacterial resistance standards. In addition, adequately manufactured nurses uniforms are extensively evaluated in labs and user trials to ensure that they are high enough quality to keep medics safe.
Nursing uniforms can be thoroughly cleaned
Because of the danger of cross-contamination, all medical garments are intended to be easily cleaned after each use.
Hospitals clean their uniforms using an industrial laundering procedure that employs harsh chemicals to guarantee the clothing are appropriately decontaminated.
Chlorine bleach, disinfectants, heavy-duty detergents, and white vinegar are among the chemicals utilised in the cleaning process. Many are far more powerful cleaning agents than ordinary clothing can tolerate.
Medical uniforms must also be laundered at a higher temperature than other garment types. According to the UK Health and Safety Executive, a 10-minute wash at 60ºC is sufficient to eliminate most bacteria. However, badly soiled surgical gowns may need to be cleaned for at least three minutes in water that reaches at least 71ºC.
Fortunately, high-quality nurses uniforms are made from long-lasting textiles that can withstand harsh industrial laundering cycles for several years, ensuring a sanitary medical environment.
They help staff to be easily identifiable
The third advantage of nurses uniforms is that they make medical staff more apparent to patients, visitors, and colleagues.
Most NHS Trusts and private hospitals have strict uniform dress rules in place, and one reason for this is it provides a simple way to identify who is a qualified medical practitioner.
The uniforms reassure people that their wearers are trustworthy experts by requiring all trusted medics to wear matching uniforms with ID badges.
Many hospitals also utilise uniform colours to identify roles. A surgeon, for example, could be obliged to wear pale green scrubs, whilst a matron might be required to wear navy blue.
A code like this reassures patients and colleagues that they are conversing with the right doctor for the job.
Nursing uniforms are inexpensive
Another advantage of nurses uniforms is that they are frequently less expensive than personal clothes. This helps the purchaser, whether it is the Trust, a hospital, or a medical practitioner, to keep expenses down.
Alexandra’s entire set of medical scrubs starts at £16.50 and is guaranteed to last at least two years. As a result, buying scrubs as a package can cost as little as £8.25 each year.
Because medical uniforms are inexpensive, buyers can afford to buy spares or replace old clothes.
They help nurses do their job
Most nurses’ uniforms include pockets allowing medical staff to keep their most-needed instruments and equipment close to hand.
Many clothes have pockets and loops for medical staff to carry tools like scissors, pens, penlights, fob clocks, and bandages.
However, nurses should keep in mind that the number of pockets and pocket size can vary between clothing. Some uniform items have limited storage space to help with infection management.
Where can I buy nursing uniforms?
Alexandra has a large selection of healthcare uniforms for both male and female medical staff. As experts in the healthcare clothing field, we constantly update our garment designs to guarantee that they provide medics with the benefits they require to do their jobs effectively.
Alongside our healthcare uniforms, we stock a wide range of workwear, such as women’s workwear dresses for business and blouses for those hybrid office workers. Our range spans sectors including hospitality, business, healthcare, beauty and facilities.
