Medical scrubs are designed to take a beating day in and day out. They are worn by professionals who have a dirty job to do that would strain many other work outfits. Even with this being the case, they need to be taken care of so that they last a long time and can continue to do their job.
You can’t treat them like normal clothes, however. The types of stains they get are not like ordinary ones and require some special treatment. In this article, I will go over the best ways to take care of your men’s or women’s scrubs so they last you a long time.
Disinfecting medical scrubs
Scrubs can be exposed to some hazardous stains and fluids so they have to be treated with a good disinfectant. They likely have been infected with viral and bacterial infections. And these infectious materials can spread to other clothes so you have to be very careful how you treat them.
First, keep them separate from other laundry and don’t ever leave them sitting around on a surface in your home. When getting them ready to wash and disinfect, make sure to wear gloves.
If your scrubs are white then you can wash them in your washing machine with some bleach to kill any of the infections present. Make sure to add it to the bleach dispenser so it is added to the wash cycle in the right moment so it is diluted enough.
For non white scrubs, you can’t use bleach as it will discolor them. In this case, use pine oil that is an 80% blend. There are various household cleaners with pine oil that can be used. Add a few capfuls at the beginning of the wash cycle and use hot or warm water.
Treating stains
The types of stains you are likely to encounter from working in a hospital are going to make washing them difficult. Blood stains for instance require soaking in cold water and hot or warm water should be avoided. Then, rub some heavy duty laundry detergent on the stain and let it sit for 10 minutes before adding to the wash.
Ointments will need to be rubbed off with a hard edged tool like a butter knife to get the residue off of it before attempting to wash. Once again, scrubbing it with heavy duty laundry detergent is a must and let it sit for a whole before rising with hot water and adding to the wash.
Other organic fluids are high in protein and will need heavy duty laundry detergent but without scrubbing this time. If you scrub it in, then the stain will likely set. Let it sit for about 15 minutes and then flush it with cold water before adding to the wash. Try adding some baking soda to the load for extra stubborn and set in stains.
Storage
After washing, iron them as you would any other clothing of the type of fabric they are made out of and then hang in a closet in a garment bag to keep them from getting contaminated by other clothing.