Doctors wear surgical gowns for many important reasons. Like a fire suit or police uniform, surgical gowns allow patients and other civilians to easily identify medical personnel. They prevent infection for both doctors and patients because surgical gowns are made of antibacterial materials.
While white is a common color for doctors, for a variety of reasons, surgical gowns end up in the familiar shades of green and blue.
What is the Purpose of Surgical Gowns?
1. As Protection for the Patient
Long ago, doctors would wear their normal, everyday clothes to treat patients. They rarely washed or kept their equipment clean. Before germs were understood or even discovered, it was widely believed that the air itself was the cause of spreading death, and when one was destined to get dirty, there was no need to wash. Blood was a badge of honor, because the bloodier your clothes, the more experience you had.
But after the germ theory seeped into the mainstream and was accepted as fact by the medical community, surgical gowns were part of an effort to change that by allowing doctors to create a physical barrier between themselves and their patients, preventing them from bringing disease to the next patient by wearing and throwing away disposable protective clothing.
Today, many hospital gowns are embedded with an antimicrobial chain that effectively prevents the invasion and spread of germs.
2. As Protection for the Physicians
Surgical gowns keep patients safe not only through sterility and antimicrobial resistance, but also keep physicians safe by providing an additional barrier between them and the various contaminants that can affect their own health.
One of the practical aspects of disposable surgical gowns is that they can be easily put on and taken off, and it is also easier to spot and eliminate stains caused by blood. This also protects the physician’s own clothing from said contaminants and ensures that they do not take their patients’ illnesses home with them, or into the public eye.
Why Green or Blue?
Although the earliest surgical gowns were white, the abundance of white in the operating room caused considerable eye strain problems, especially as the surgery progressed. Green and blue surgical gowns contrasted with red and white. This gave the surgeons something else to look at for a while when they needed to rest their eyes during a particularly long surgery. In addition, the blood is less vibrant on the dark blue and certain greens, which makes it slightly less distracting to the eyes.
Shijiazhuang Huicheng Jufu Biological Technology Co., Ltd. is dedicated to the production of disposable medical supplies and doctors’, nurses’ and patients’ gowns, etc. If you have a need to buy surgical gowns, please contact us.
