# Why Do Docs Scrub Up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404 "2002-12-09T01:24:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joemill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@joemill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joemill)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/1 "2002-12-09T01:24:03Z")
Here’s something I always wondered; why do doctors that are going into the operating room scrub up? After they scrub up, they get covered by sterile gowns and gloves, so why bother washing your hands if you’re just going to cover them with something sterile anyhow… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/3 "2002-12-09T01:37:36Z")
microbes are small and can travel by air. Garments don’t nessecarily protect from that. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/4 "2002-12-09T01:37:49Z")
As **leona** said, invariably some gloves will break. And we often don’t notice it until the procedure is done, and we pull off the gloves, and go “oh, gross!” That’s why we scrub. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/5 "2002-12-09T02:08:32Z")
Wait, this might just be me being dumb, but how often do you reach far enough into a patient to rip the gloove/sleeve on your _upper forearm_? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/6 "2002-12-09T02:21:53Z")
Well, if you’ve got germs on your upper forearms, seems to me not inconcievable that they might migrate down somehow–perhaps accidentally brushing them with gloved hand. If the doc’s going to be cutting me open and poking around in _my_ piecey-parts, (s)he is encouraged to scrub any parts that need scrubbin’. ---
**Author:** ![benson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@benson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/7 "2002-12-09T02:33:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > \*\*Wait, this might just be me being dumb, but how often do you reach far enough into a patient to rip the gloove/sleeve on your _upper forearm_? :eek: \*\* You’d be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/8 "2002-12-09T02:43:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > \*\*Wait, this might just be me being dumb, but how often do you reach far enough into a patient to rip the gloove/sleeve on your _upper forearm_? :eek: \*\* Don’t you EVER watch _ER_? :rolleyes: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/9 "2002-12-09T02:47:23Z")
this is soooo weird. I was wondering about the same question, and considering asking you all about it just yesterday. But as I thought about it further, I was able to answer my own question (ala leona and qadgop) so I didn’t submit it. curiouser and curiouser. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/10 "2002-12-09T03:05:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > \*\*Wait, this might just be me being dumb, but how often do you reach far enough into a patient to rip the gloove/sleeve on your _upper forearm_? :eek: \*\* I’ve had to manually remove a placenta a few times. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/11 "2002-12-09T03:21:04Z")
Read _The Cry And The Covenant_ about the work of Ignaz Semmelweiss, and _The Century of The Surgeon_ about the development of antisepsis in surgery. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/12 "2002-12-09T04:15:43Z")
One of the likely modes of transmission of the Group B Strep bacteria that killed my older son was someone poking around without having washed their hands first. (The infection control practices in that particular hospital were pretty lax.) So, handwashing is a good idea. In fact, my OB practiced surgical handwashing and used sterile gloves when he delivered Aaron and when he placed my IUD so as to minimize the risk of further bacterial transmission. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/13 "2002-12-09T04:25:35Z")
They are called \*\* universal precautions\*\*, so, you do them every time. Not only that, but you do them so habitually, that you don’t have to remember. You do it a whole lot even when in some particular case, you know for a fact that you don’t need to. It’s about being universal. Tris ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-docs-scrub-up/141404/14 "2002-12-09T04:46:30Z")
When the OP goes to the hospital comes down with a postoperative infection, ask if everyone scrubbed their hands well enough.