The hospital needs to be kept clean and tidy, especially the operating room, which is required to be sterile. Therefore, before entering the operating room, the first thing medical staff must do is to put on sterile clothes, but many people can’t distinguish the difference between medical surgical gown and medical scrub suit. What is the difference between medical surgical gown and medical scrub suit?

Surgical gown:

The surgical gown is a long-sleeved gown with a small high-necked collar, which is opened at the back. Generally, doctors can't wear it by themselves, they need the assistance of a nurse to wear it. The color is mainly light blue.

The part of the surgical gown that touches the doctor’s body is called the clean area, and the part that comes into contact with blood, body fluids and the patient’s body outside is called the contaminated area. The general operation requirement is to completely isolate the contaminated environment and the clean environment, while protecting the health of both the doctor and the patient. Therefore, the surgical gown is required to be wrapped tightly and must be completely isolated.

Scrub suit:

Scrub suits are generally short-sleeved short V-neck or round necks. Medical staff who enter the operating room need to wear scrub suits, whether they are doctors, nurses or anesthesiologists. Once they step into the door of the operating room, they must have scrub suits. The reason why the scrub suit are designed as short-sleeved form, is to allow the staff involved in the operation to easily wash the hands, forearms and the front third of the upper arms.

However, for doctors who need to perform direct surgery, they need not only to wear a scrub suit, but also to wear a surgical gown over the scrub suit to ensure the smooth operation.

Whether it is a surgical gown or a scrub suit, the purpose is to ensure that the operation can be performed under aseptic conditions. In addition, the requirements of clinical medicine for sterile surgical gowns also include good barrier properties and comfort capabilities. The former can ensure that medical staff undergoing surgery will not be contaminated by the patient’s blood and body fluids, and the latter can allow medical staff to carry out the operation in a more comfortable state, and correspondingly improve the operation efficiency, which is greatly beneficial to both the medical staff and the patient.