Today’s scrubs come in myriad colors, prints and fabrics, giving nurses options when it comes to work attire. Not everyone appears to be a fan of one new scrubs style, however.
Not too long ago, a health care professional who goes by the handle skifish33 posted a question on the social media platform Reddit: “Has anyone had an attending tell them jogger scrubs are unprofessional and not to wear them?”
“Had an attending pull me aside today and tell me not to wear ‘sweatpants’ aka my navy jogger scrubs to the hospital anymore as they are unprofessional, despite all sorts of other staff wearing them. Anyone else ever had this happen?” skifish33 asked.
Jogger scrubs, for the unitiated, have elastic cuffs at the ankles instead of the traditional loose hem. The question has received nearly 150 comments so far, with the vast majority coming out in favor of the new style.
“(T)hey can pry my jogger scrubs from my cold dead ankles. who likes having dirty wet hems from outside? disgusting,” user Nerdanese wrote in a comment that has been upvoted 160 times.
User yurbanastripe agreed. “For real. I’ve never worn anything but these and I’ll never change.”
Joggers’ length seemed to be both a pro and con point of contention.
“I loved my traditional scrub-pants up until I had a night shift in the ER. I was basically tiptoeing around because I didn’t want to pick up all of the spilled blood with my pants,” misthios98 wrote.
TsunamiLadyWorms wrote that her hospital banned joggers because of ankle exposure. “The hospital I work at has banned jogger scrubs and their reasoning is that in clinical and laboratory settings they tend to pose a hazard by leaving the ankle area more exposed. Upon being given a visual example, I was convinced and didn’t argue with their decision.
“So I believe the problem is not only about the attending being a snob, a boomer, or the jogger scrubs looking like sweatpants.”
More than a few commenters thought hospital administration has more pressing issues right now than dress code violations.
“Very hospital administration of them to ban joggers in the middle of pandemic with crisis staffing shortages. That’s what I want my admin to focus on,” LulaGagging34 commented.
Nurse.org pointed out that Time’s 2020 Nurse of the Year, Amy O’Sullivan, is known for her navy blue joggers paired with colorful socks.
“Every single nurse, doctor, and tech who wears joggers is safer — no tripping or falling over the old scrub bottoms,” O’Sullivan told Nurse.org. Plus, they’re just plain better: “They’re for sure cooler and ya gotta be up to date with fashion!” she added.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments. You can even post of photo of you wearing your joggers.
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