The theory of color, and its relation to psychological responses is not a new concept. But do you know what kind of response your Christmas scrubs or holiday-themed scrubs draw from people? Or furthermore, what any color of scrubs can draw from patients and other people around you?

Color theory is used in everything from healthcare to marketing and advertising. Think about it. Take Target for example: What is the first thing you think of when someone says Target? That big red bullseye, right?! It’s a genius logo, and their color choice was not by accident. Target’s logo and all their branding is red. Why? For marketing and advertising, red is an action color. Want someone to buy your product? That buy button better be red, orange, or yellow. So when you go to waltz through the those glass doors of shopping bliss, Target wants your brain to tell you to take action! Like that purse? Buy it. Like those towels? By them. Not sure about that candle...look up and see a RED sale sign? Subconsciously plop that candle down into your cart too. Buy, buy, buy!

Colors pull all sorts of responses and feelings from people. So it’s not too hard to believe that the color of your work scrubs do the same. Here are what scrub colors make patients feel below. And since it’s the holiday season, we’ll start of with some Christmas scrub colors.

Red Scrubs

Red is vibrant color. Wearing red uniform scrubs conveys passion, strength, and fearlessness. It also instills confidence and grabs attention. So much so that it is often recommended that people in job interviews or giving presentations wear red. It conveys to their interviewer that they have the confidence needed for the job, and for presenters and speakers, it quickly gets the attention of the audience.

From a healthcare standpoint, red custom scrubs are not only festive for the holiday season, but also will make your patients feel more confident in your abilities.

Green Scrubs

Green is a universal healthcare color. Ever wonder why? For starters, it’s the easiest on the eyes of any color. Green also conveys comfort, wisdom, calmness, reassurance, and well-being. So while it is a universal healthcare color, this is why you will notice an abundance of green scrubs in hospital environments.

Green is also known for reducing stress levels in both the person wearing green, and in those around that person. Big plus! Maybe all ER staff should be required to wear green. I mean, that setting would stress me out.

Yellow Scrubs

Yellow is another vibrant color, much like red. However, while red communicates things like passion and strength, yellow conveys intelligence, optimism, and cheerfulness. While this would be a fantastic color choice for any healthcare professional, yellows are frequently correlated and successful in pediatric settings; including pediatric medical facilities and pediatric dentistry.

Pink Scrubs

Even though pink is merely a lighter shade of red, what it communicates to patients and others around you is an entirely different message. Pink conveys calmness, friendliness, compassion, femininity, and nurturing. Due to these feelings evoked by the color pink, much like yellow, pink is a superior color choice for those healthcare professionals who regularly work with children. It is also a good choice for healthcare professionals who work in nursing homes, or hospice care.

Blue Scrubs

Blue! Blue scrubs are classic in style and professional looking. But what sort of communication does it send to your patients. Well, blue conveys professionalism, calmness, and generosity. For these reasons, blue is a remarkable color choice for uniform scrubs for doctors and surgeons. Doctors and surgeons may want to consider wearing blue custom fit scrubs or lab coats. Wearing a nice blue dress shirt under a labcoat would also be a good attire choice for these particular healthcare professionals.

Do you have a patient whose treatment may require some creativity and out of the box thinking? Consider opting for a darker blue scrub set, or dress shirt for your consultation that day. Dark blue, while having the same traits as lighter blue, also gains you points as being viewed as creative.

Black Scrubs

Last, but most certainly not least, black scrubs! Black clothing in general is always a great go-to color. It’s simplistic, clean, and professional looking.

For black uniform scrubs, authority, confidence, class, competence are the feelings that will be communicated to your patients. When someone who is wearing black enters the room, people automatically associate immense competence in their profession to that individual. Again, this color choice may be a strong choice for surgeons, or doctors who deal with patients seeking help from terminal illnesses.

There you have it. If you didn’t know what your uniform scrubs conveyed to your patients before, hopefully you now have a better understanding. The mental state of patients can be so integral to their well-being and healing. I hope if you’re a nurse or doctor, you keep this article bookmarked to refer to; whether you need a refresher when shopping for new uniform scrubs, or perhaps moving from one area of practice to another and want to figure out what colors will best suit your new area of practice. Be aware of color theory can make you more confident that you are giving your patients what they need on a psychological level to feel you are the right person to perform your specific duties.