Medical scrubs are the standardized uniform for healthcare professionals, offering a practical, easily sanitized garment required for patient care. The colors of these uniforms are typically part of an institutional policy designed to create a visual system within the facility. This system, known as scrub color coding, provides a method for rapid identification of staff roles, departments, and levels of training.
The Purpose of Scrub Color Coding
Color coding streamlines communication and clarifies the organizational structure of a busy medical environment. Assigning specific colors to different roles allows staff and patients to quickly identify personnel, which is beneficial during emergencies or high-stress situations. Standardizing the uniform color minimizes confusion and promotes a perception of order and professionalism.
This system also aids in operational efficiency and infection control protocols. When staff in a specific area wear the same color, it simplifies the distribution and collection of facility-laundered scrubs, ensuring garments meet institutional hygiene standards. Visual uniformity also reinforces team identity within specialized units, supporting collaborative workflows.
The Primary Meaning of Maroon Scrubs
Maroon, often referred to as burgundy or wine, typically signifies a specialized, non-physician, or technical role within a healthcare system. This deep red color is frequently chosen to visually separate highly trained support staff from general nursing personnel, who are often assigned shades of blue or green. The assignment of maroon often indicates a requirement for specific technical certifications, advanced training, or a focus on particular procedural skills.
Maroon helps communicate that the wearer is a specialist with a concentrated scope of practice, often working in procedural areas, laboratories, or high-acuity units. Facilities use maroon to designate roles involving hands-on technical work, such as drawing blood, running specialized equipment, or assisting in surgical procedures. This visual distinction aids in directing patients and staff to the appropriate personnel for specific tasks.
Common Roles Associated with Maroon
Maroon scrubs frequently identify professionals whose work requires precision and a dedicated technical skill set outside of general patient floor nursing. The distinct color prevents these specialists from being mistaken for general Registered Nurses and helps delineate their unique responsibilities. This color is often adopted by various technical and therapeutic departments within a hospital setting.
Surgical Technologists
Surgical technologists are often found wearing maroon when they are not scrubbed into a case in the operating room, where green or blue is traditional. Their role involves preparing the operating room and ensuring all necessary instruments and equipment are sterile and available for the procedure. They maintain the sterile field and anticipate the surgeon’s needs, requiring extensive specialized training in surgical procedures and asepsis.
Respiratory Therapists
Respiratory therapists (RTs) are commonly assigned maroon scrubs due to their specialized focus on cardiopulmonary health. RTs manage ventilators, administer breathing treatments, and respond to codes involving respiratory distress, requiring a high degree of technical expertise and immediate action. Their work is often concentrated in intensive care units, emergency departments, and neonatal units.
Specialized Nursing Units
While general nurses typically wear a common color, some facilities reserve maroon for nurses in highly specialized areas, such as the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This distinction identifies nurses who have completed advanced certifications or possess a higher level of autonomy compared to floor nurses. The unique color signals their specialized expertise in managing the most acutely ill patients.
Phlebotomy and EKG Technicians
Support services that perform highly specific, technical procedures are also frequent wearers of maroon or burgundy scrubs. Phlebotomy technicians specialize in drawing blood samples, and EKG technicians are trained in operating electrocardiogram machines and interpreting basic heart rhythm data. Assigning them a distinct color helps staff quickly locate the personnel responsible for these common diagnostic procedures.
Why Scrub Colors Are Not Universal
Scrub color codes are established by individual hospitals, medical groups, or large healthcare systems and are not governed by any national or industry-wide standard. This means the exact meaning of maroon scrubs in one facility may be completely different in another nearby institution. The lack of a universal code is due to each organization customizing the system to fit its unique staffing model and departmental structure.
For example, a hospital might assign maroon to physical therapists, while a nearby competitor uses the same color for its entire pharmacy staff. Some facilities only require certain roles to wear facility-provided, color-coded scrubs, while others, such as physicians, may wear any color they choose. This variability means maroon does not have a fixed meaning across the entire healthcare landscape, necessitating local confirmation.
How to Confirm the Meaning at a Specific Facility
Given the institutional variability, the most reliable way to determine the meaning of maroon scrubs is to consult the specific facility’s internal policies. Most healthcare professionals wear an employee identification badge, which typically displays the wearer’s full name, photograph, and official job title or department. Checking the ID badge offers the most accurate and immediate confirmation of their role.
Patients and visitors can also look for informational signage often posted near reception areas or elevator banks, which sometimes includes a key to the facility’s color code system. If a sign is not visible, the simplest approach is to politely ask a staff member or nurse to confirm the role of the individual in maroon scrubs.
Conclusion
Maroon scrubs are generally used in healthcare settings to designate specialized technical or clinical support roles that require a focused skill set and specific training. This color helps distinguish these professionals from general patient care staff, often signaling roles such as surgical technologists, respiratory therapists, or specialized technicians. While this association is common, the precise meaning of maroon is determined solely by the policies of the individual hospital or healthcare system, making local confirmation necessary.