While the rewards of working as a medical professional surely are immense, the potential dangers that unfortunately accompany this great occupation are nothing to be taken lightly. Fortunately, there have been some excellent developments and innovations in the world of medical supplies that have granted nurses and doctors a great deal of added protection to assist them in maintaining safer working conditions. Among some of the more significant developments in medical supplies that you can look into are medical gowns.

Even though medical gowns and medical scrubs may indeed seem to be relatively simple items that do not require much extra thought or attention, they definitely do contribute a significant amount in terms of not only your daily comfort while you work but also for the degree of safety they provide. But since there are so many different medical gowns and nurse scrubs to choose from it often proves to be a bit of a challenge to know which types will best suit your particular needs. This leads to one of the most common concerns and questions of disposable versus reusable medical gowns.

First, it should be noted that primary purpose of both types of gowns is to provide a comprehensive barrier. Primarily, this barrier is intended to provide a barrier against liquid penetration, such as blood and bodily fluids, originating from the patient during medical procedures. Secondarily, this barrier is also similarly intended to help prevent the transference of bacteria, microorganisms and other potential contaminants into the sterile zone. Even the slightest pressure differences created by the bellowing of the gown can create a small vacuum which essentially pulls contaminants such as dead skin cells into the room, thus jeopardizing the sterile zone.

Therefore, the more invasive the surgery that is underway, the thicker and more comprehensive the barrier of the gown needs to be. Reusable medical gowns are the types that almost always feature a more comprehensive barrier for this purpose. Essentially, the more intensive the surgery and the greater the opening in the body of the patient, the better the barrier that will be needed, thus necessitating the thickness offered by reusable gowns and nurse scrubs.

In addition, surgeries and medical procedures that feature a higher blood count and a greater range of potential risks to the patients will also require the comprehensive barriers offered by reusable gowns.

On the other side of things, disposable medical gowns definitely still serve extremely useful functions. One of the primary reasons you would opt for the use of a disposable medical gown or disposable nurse scrub is when you are dealing with toxic or hazardous materials or when conducting medical operations on patients with highly contagious pathogens. Being able to simply and quickly dispose of the gown makes it very convenient to maintain a completely safe medical facility, drastically reducing the chance of deadly fluids and materials from sticking around. In addition, hospital and clinic administrators often prefer these reusable types because they are cheap enough to offset the cost required to launder the reusable types.