The scrub is much more than just a normal uniform. It’s important to keep your nursing scrubs clean and in good condition not just for your appearance but also for your safety. Here are our 5 key tips to keep your nursing scrubs in good condition and last longer.
Start with High-Quality Scrubs; you should always start with high-quality scrubs first to ensure that you will use durable scrubs that provide you comfort and protection. A good quality scrub will not fade and wear out easily, and with just a little bit of extra care, you can keep it in good condition easily. A quick tip is to choose scrubs with high polyester if you don’t have much time to spend taking care of the scrubs. The scrub with high polyester is the easiest to wash and dry.
First Wash Is Important; get your new scrubs off to a good start by paying extra care in the first wash. One of the helpful tips is to wash your new scrubs in cold (or warm) water and added of ½ cup of vinegar for the first watch. This simple recipe will help to set the color and make your scrubs last longer. With only this simple extra care, you will save lots of time later in keeping your scrubs in good condition.
Think About the Way You Wear Scrubs; your scrub is for your work, so you should try to keep your scrubs at work. It is essential to keep your scrubs clean and disinfected for your safety at work. Therefore, if your scrubs are kept in your lockers or storage rooms at work, you will be less likely to wear them in other places where the scrubs may easily pick up stains and germs which should not be brought into healthcare facilities.
You should not change into your scrubs until you reach your workplace. Moreover, it is recommended to place clean scrubs in air-tight bags before wearing them to protect scrubs from germs that you may get before your shift. Remember to change first before doing everyday activities outside of work.
Special Treatment When Washing Your Scrubs; first of all, you shouldn’t wash your Scrubs with other normal garments. This is for the disinfestation purpose and also to prevent scrubs from wear and tear. The scrubs require more thorough disinfecting than a normal shirt or jeans. And your normal clothes will have other germs that you don’t want your scrubs will get; therefore, you need to wash your scrubs separately. And it is important to wear fresh, clean scrubs every shift so the second thing is to get more than one pair so you can wash each set of scrubs together at the end of each week.
If you have visible stains on your scrubs, you should treat them with color-safe stain remover before washing them. When you wash your scrubs, remember to turn the inside out before throwing them into your washing machines. Then you can start the washing cycle, which is recommended to consist of two washing phrases.
In the first phrase, wash your scrubs with cold water and normal detergent, as this phrase is to wash away all the dirt and dust from your scrubs. After the first wash, you should check it again to see whether there is any stain left. If you spot any stains, treat them with stain remover because stains normally contain germs. Some suggest using white scrubs, as it is easier to spot stains on white scrubs. After checking the stains, you can proceed to the second phrase. For the stain removal step, you can use a stain remover pen or stain removal solution, which can be easily found in the market.
The second washing phase is for disinfecting purposes. In this phrase, add ¾ cup of color-safe bleach to your washing machine’s built-in bleach dispenser and wash the load with a normal setting with hot water. After you complete both washing phrases, dry your scrubs on the highest heating for at least 30 minutes. This will kill even more bacteria.
Keep Your Scrubs Crisp and Fresh; use a hot iron to press your Scrubs to make them look crisp. A scrub full of wrinkles will make you look unappealing and unprofessional in your healthcare workplace. The hot pressing will also kill more germs. And when you finish pressing your scrubs, it is recommended to place them in a clean, dry plastic bag (or air-tight bag) to avoid contamination before you wear scrubs. And then, you can wear your fresh, crisp, clean scrub when you start your shift. This is to ensure you start your working shift with peace of mind about safety and your professional image.