How to Choose Scrubs for Your Medical Team (And What to Do With Them After)

Buying scrubs for a clinic, dental practice, or medical facility is an operational decision, not just a purchasing one. The fabric you choose determines how well scrubs hold up to the washing conditions they'll face. The style affects staff compliance. And the cleaning setup you build around them determines whether scrubs are actually doing what they're supposed to do.

This guide is written for practice managers, operations leads, and clinic administrators — the people who buy scrubs for a team rather than for themselves.

What the fabric actually tells you

Scrubs are sold in a range of fabric compositions. Here's what the main ones mean in practice:

100% cotton. Soft, breathable, comfortable — the preference of many healthcare workers. The downside from an ops perspective: cotton shrinks under high-temperature washing, fades faster, and wrinkles more. If your team is laundering their own scrubs at home at low temperatures, this matters less. If you're running a managed laundering program with high-temp cycles, expect faster turnover.

Polyester-cotton blends (65/35 or 55/45). The most common clinic scrub fabric. More dimensionally stable than pure cotton under repeated washing, holds colour longer, and wrinkles less. The tradeoff is breathability — though fabric technology has improved significantly. For practices running a centralised laundering program, blends are generally the better operational choice.

Performance fabrics (moisture-wicking polyester, four-way stretch). Popular in surgical and physically demanding environments. Durable, stretch-resistant, and colour-stable. Typically more expensive per unit but can last longer under high-frequency washing.

What this means for your buying decision: If you're planning to run scrubs through a professional laundering program with high-temperature cycles and sanitizing agents, choose a fabric that's rated for it. Check the manufacturer's care label before you buy in volume — some performance fabrics have lower temperature tolerances than clinical washing requires.

Fit and compliance

Staff will find ways to avoid wearing scrubs they're uncomfortable in. For a managed uniform program, this creates operational headaches — staff rotating personal scrubs into clinical areas, inconsistent presentation, and undermining the hygiene rationale for having a uniform in the first place.

Practical considerations:

• Sizing range. Order from suppliers with a genuine size range, not one that tops out at XL for a team with varied body types.
• Gender-appropriate cuts. One-size-fits-all scrub purchasing leads to poor compliance. Many suppliers offer specific cuts for different fits — worth the sourcing effort.
• Pocket placement. Relevant for staff who carry instruments or personal devices. A scrub without usable pockets is a scrub that staff will supplement with street clothes.

How many sets per staff member

The standard formula for a managed laundering program is:

• One set being worn
• One set in the laundry
• One set clean and ready

That's a minimum of three sets per staff member to run a next-day laundering cycle without gaps. Higher-risk environments (surgical, infectious disease) or practices with longer shift patterns may need four or five sets per person to accommodate longer cleaning cycles and buffer stock.

Buying too few sets is a common error in new programs — it forces staff to wear scrubs longer than they should, or creates pressure to delay laundering.

Clinical laundering: what it actually requires

This is where operations decisions often go wrong. Scrubs in a clinical setting need to be laundered differently from household laundry, and the gap matters:

Temperature. Effective sanitization of clinical garments requires washing at temperatures high enough to eliminate bacteria and contaminants. Standard home washing machines typically operate at 30–40°C. Clinical laundering uses significantly higher temperatures appropriate for healthcare environments.

Sanitizing agents. Temperature alone isn't sufficient in all cases. Clinical laundering uses chemical sanitizers in combination with heat to meet healthcare laundry standards. Household detergents aren't formulated for this purpose.

Separation. Clinical scrubs should be washed separately from household or non-clinical laundry — both in the facility and, ideally, not at home.

The home laundering problem. Many clinics rely on staff to launder their own scrubs at home. This is cost-effective in the short term but creates several operational problems: inconsistent temperatures and detergents, contamination risk from mixing with personal laundry, and no way to verify compliance. For higher-risk clinical environments, it's worth evaluating whether a managed laundering program is more appropriate than the savings suggest.

Building a managed laundering program

If you're moving from home laundering to a managed program — or setting one up for a new practice — the operational setup is straightforward:

1. Establish your par stock (sets per staff member × staff count × rotation cycle)
2. Set a pickup frequency (daily, every other day, or weekly depending on volume)
3. Define your spec (how garments are returned — hung, folded, sorted by staff member)
4. Communicate to staff (what goes into the program, what doesn't, pickup logistics)

The laundering partner you choose should be able to handle high-temperature sanitizing cycles with appropriate chemical agents, offer per-garment or per-bag processing depending on your tracking needs, and return garments on a schedule that fits your clinical rotation.

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The Laundry Brothers provides commercial uniform laundering for medical clinics, dental practices, physiotherapy centres, and other healthcare facilities across Greater Vancouver. We process scrubs and clinical uniforms at high temperature with industry-grade sanitizing agents — per-garment or flat-rate bag, depending on your account. Learn about our uniform cleaning service or get a quote.