Ophthalmologists might not give too much thought to the colour of their scrubs, but new research suggests it can influence the patient’s perception of them on a range of characteristics from trustworthiness through to their skill level.
The small study by University of North Carolina researchers, published in JAMA Surgery, investigated the association between a physician’s attire and patient confidence in them.
The study of 113 adult patients found clinicians wearing green scrubs were most strongly recognised as being surgeons, followed by light blue scrubs, while those donning black scrubs evoked more negative associations.
However, blue scrubs were deemed the most caring by respondents.
For the study, the authors presented participants with four images, each of a male and female doctor in different coloured scrubs: light blue, green, black and navy.
For each trait tested, male and female clinicians wearing black scrubs ranked most negatively, voted as: least caring, least trustworthy, least knowledgeable and least skilled.
“Given the increasing use of scrubs, and the magnitude of expenditures dedicated to them, colour choices should be purposeful and data-based,” the authors said.
“Although rapport depends on both tangible and intangible factors, scrub colour is an easily modifiable feature that may be a factor in the clinician-patient relationship and thus clinical outcomes.”
Ms Casey Hribar, a medical student involved in the study, told MedPage Today they hoped to expand the research to include more types of providers and patients.
“I think it could scale all the way up to saying we change the way hospitals purchase their scrubs, or the way they assign or don’t assign dress codes,” she said.
“What if we ask the physicians what they think? We might overwhelmingly get a bias in the opposite direction – that they love the black [scrubs] because they hide stains, they’re flattering.”
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