Here's one to ponder. Why is it that some doctors wear scrubs and others wear shirts, ties (and pants of course). Is it just a mater of personal preference? Maybe a dumb question, but just trying to kill some time before I go home.

-- Lisa (lisayas@yahoo.com), May 22, 2000

Answers

i think all the ER docs wear scrubs, cuz theres a lot of blood and body fluids around in the traumas. the docs who just go around and do "rounds" and look at charts, and such are the ones who wear the ties, etc.

-- ALexis Springer (lexicat1@webtv.net), May 22, 2000.

Personally, I prefer doctors who wear ties and shirts. They just seem so professional, and when they dress up nicely, I think it really shows their respect for the patients-- the fact that they are willing to take the time to look decent and presentable to you. Just my opinion.

Actually, in this ER, we have Carter who wears suspenders and Greene who wears scrubs, and Kerry who dresses very professionally and yet they ALL assist in bloody traumas and don't merely go around doing chart reviews and such. My dad and aunt are both doctors, one in the ER, and they both dress well (my dad even wears suits sometimes) because they feel they have an obligation to look presentable to their patients and staff. It's very tempting to sort of slack off and wear lazy clothes to be comfortable. ACtually, it's a proven that patients feel more secure and at ease with a doctor who dresses well.

-- samira (matb_west@chickmail.com), May 22, 2000.

From what I have seen, The docs that wear scrubs don't really have to pay attention in what gets on themselves during those bloody traumas, because they can just change scrubs. The others, like Carter, have to put on the yellow looking apron things when they think they will get into those situations. Kind of a hastle. Although, I like the Carter approach. It is so much more proffesional.

-- H C Tuson (cdls1840@msn.com), May 22, 2000.

Dave always wears scrubs, and I think Doug did. Everybody else dresses nicely; I think maybe it's about men who don't want to bother to dress up. Obviously, Elizabeth, Peter, Robert, etc., wear scrubs when they're going into surgery, and since they're SURGEONS that's what we see them in at work most of the time. I think everyone else has been thrown up on or dowsed with water at least once this season, and had to change; but that's the only time we've seen them "dressed down."

-- Felicity (felicity08@juno.com), May 22, 2000.

Sorry, me again. While we're sort of on this topic, I've noticed that all of the ER nurses, male and female, wear pink-- except Malik. He wears dark blue. What's up with that? I thought in hospitals, people's uniforms are color-coded by department. Is Malik just too macho to wear pink?

-- Felicity (felicity08@juno.com), May 22, 2000.

Felicity, I have seen Malik where pink in the past episodes, and seeing this I thought he should get a different color. My personal preference about guys wearing pink, I don't like it. And not to be rude and to start a huge uproar, but MAnon....."What in the heck kind of statement was that????" I didn't take it to kindly. I know you added LOL, but I still, I don't know, it rubbed me the wrong way. Sorry. :-)

-- Paula (pbranden@dwave.net), May 23, 2000.

well, i have really never seen any ER doctors in REAL life wearing any suits and ties...all scrubs! if you are to hop up on a gurney and start CPR, how comfortable would that be if you were wearing a dress shirt? some docs show up in their nice clothes, then put on scrubs when they get there. maybe thats what your dad does? or maybe he does not work on patients, i have no idea.

-- ALexis Springer (lexicat1@webtv.net), May 23, 2000.

It scares me how often I ponder this! I actually figured it out, I think.

Mark always wears scrubs. There have been very few times, either when he was resident or an attending, that he has worn dress clothes under his lab coat (one being in Such Sweet Sorrow). And his scrubs are always green.

Carter wore dress clothes (with suspenders of course!) when he was a med student and when he started back in the emergency room. He alternated between blue and green scrubs while he was in the surgery department (seasons two and three).

Kerry and Susan, and now Luka, always were dress clothes underneath (although there were a few times when Susan's clothes weren't really dressy!) I hold to the fact that Luka has the Regis look lately.

Doug wore nice clothes for a while in season one, then started wearing scrubs, preferably the black shirt under the blue scrub top and dress pants.

Peter always wears scrubs, and Elizabeth usually wears scrubs too, guess for easy, well, scrubbing in!

As for Malik, he used to wear pink. It seems the nurses have a little more freedom in what they wear now (nurse Frank had purple, Haleh usually wears a different type of top). That's my rambling.

-- Joanne (bucklind@hotmail.com), May 23, 2000.

Frank the nurse wore purple because he works in ICU, and that's apparently their color. The nurses do tend to wear contrasting jackets on top of their scrubs. Okay, I guess I just haven't seen Malik wearing pink.

-- Felicity (felicity08@juno.com), May 23, 2000.

Actually, according to Carol, the nurses scrubs are not pink they're peach. :)

-- Kimmy (swiss_cheesed1953@yahoo.com), May 23, 2000.

So why does Malucci always wear what appears to be dark blue scrubs?

-- debbie (riccardoiii@aol.com), May 23, 2000.

Kimmy--the nurses wore peach scrubs at first, until they stopped making them and the nurses had to pick a new color. They walked around in cranberry for a (short) while, and then, as someone else noted, they seemed to get a lot more freedom. Most wear pink, but we've seen Carol in both blue and I think once hunter green. And, while Malik has been spotted in pink before, lately his color of choice is that dark blue.

-- joy (joygirl01@yahoo.com), May 23, 2000.

Paula, the image of a man choosing his clothes to match his complexion just made me smile. Most women do, at least in the place where I live. We want our lipstick to match the dress and the dress to go with the colour of our eyes and we won't wear something that does not make our complexion look good. But men just dress to be comfortable. I am a french speaking Canadian. I suppose that's why I can't quite figure out what was so offensive in my little joke, but I'm sorry if it offended you or anybody else. THat was not the intention. To quote Elizabeth, I'd say : "please, don't read to much into this"

-- Manon (brault@saglac.qc.ca), May 24, 2000.

by the way, not all hospitals have a color coded system for uniforms. some places let the employees wear whatever color they want, in all departments.

-- ALexis Springer (lexicat1@webtv.net), May 24, 2000.

Lisa, I'm so glad you asked, I have never known why some people where blue, green, dark blue, etc. scrubs and some don't. Mark always wore green (NEVER blue), Doug almost always wore blue, Carter wore both, etc. I love that Carter dresses up, I love guys in jackets and ties (and non-related, I'm love that NW wore a suit and tie to his wedding, as opposed to a tux...I just like ties better), but I also miss seeing Carter in scrubs. He very rarely wears them. Mark looks nice in shirts and ties, he should wear that more often. Elizabeth looked REALLY nice in The Fastest Year (she was wearing a dress)...I never understood why Carol had so much freedom in what she wore, except when she ran the clinic. So color of scrubs doesn't really matter, is this right?

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), May 24, 2000.