Some of the nurses at work were talking about a sale on scrubs. I was listening in, because I only have one pair of scrubs that I wear on call and they’re awful. The top is so big that it could be a dress on me. Nurse: “Actually, I’ve never seen you in scrubs, Dr. McFizz. You never wear them!” They pointed out that a few of the other doctors do sometimes wear scrubs during 9-5 business hours, but some of us don’t. Here’s why I don’t: When I was an intern, I worked at a county hospital, serving a very poor population. Intern year is hard, and I wanted nothing more than to live my life in scrubs–basically, nonstop pajamas. But our program director said to us, “You know, these patients may be very poor and not speak English, but they should be treated with respect. And that means they deserve a doctor who is well dressed.” Some of the other interns wore scrubs every day anyway, but I didn’t. On non-call days, I wore “nice” clothes. Those words really stuck with me, even now, over ten years later. I feel like it’s more respectful to dress in nice clothes when I see patients. Source
It's not disrespectul to wear scrubs. It depends on where you work. If you are working in the OR, ER or ICU, patients expect you to be in scrub suits, ( but not in the ward . private room or OPD clinic. We wear scrubs at work and leave them in the hospital when we go home so that we wont bring all the germs ( bacteria) home to our family especially to our kids who would hug us when we reach home. Be aware that aside from hands, clothing and instruments( stethoscope) could also spread microbials. We wear scrubs at work and leave them in the hospital after work. So I think preventing spread of diseases is more important and practical than just showing respect to patients , which you could do by attending and caring them well rather than just grooming.
