Surgery rotation: Do I need to buy a scrub cap?

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So far I've been using the disposable ones at the hospital, but almost everyone else has their own cloth scrub cap they bring from home. Is it like an unwritten rule that I need to do that as well? Especially if I want Honors?
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lone_cypress said:
So far I've been using the disposable ones at the hospital, but almost everyone else has their own cloth scrub cap they bring from home. Is it like an unwritten rule that I need to do that as well? Especially if I want Honors?
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It’s an unwritten rule that you must NOT as a student
 
I really don't think most people care, but as a med student, I only wore the disposable. Still do to this day. When I'm a chief or staff, maybe that will change - personally don't feel I've earned it yet.
 
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My school's surgery interest group sells scrub caps with the school logo. I don't know if that is a widespread unwritten rule, but I have worn scrub caps while shadowing without issue. However, the disposable ones are better because they cover your sideburns and down the back of your neck when most scrub caps don't. If I do wear a scrub cap, I put a disposable one over it to make sure I am covering everything.
 
Aren’t the disposable scrub caps more likely to cause contamination than the cloth scrub caps? Remember reading some stories about it that some OR nurses were advocating everyone wear the disposable bouffants?
 
I don't like these unwritten rules in general. During my residency it was a known 'rule' that only attendings had their names on their white coats. Because you know, some hierarchical power move is more important than patients being able to see the name of the provider treating them somewhere other than their ID which may be somewhat hidden, turned around, etc. With that being said though, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've worn my white coat as an attending, and I didn't put my name on my most recent set of scrubs.

However, I hate to say that for a student, it seems it could be bit I guess I'll say 'self-important' and haughty to be wearing a cloth cap in the OR. Almost like "Hmm, look at this guy/gal over here. They're just a student wearing a cloth cap like they already know they're landing in a surgery residency or something".

I'm not saying I agree with that thought process, but just know there could be some who judge you that way. If you don't care about that, get a cloth cap. If you do, then use the disposable ones.
 
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Niwrad said:
Aren’t the disposable scrub caps more likely to cause contamination than the cloth scrub caps? Remember reading some stories about it that some OR nurses were advocating everyone wear the disposable bouffants?
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There are some places where it is "banned" to wear cloth ones due to interpretation of data/overzealous RN staff. In these places, you may be fine wearing it because no one cares despite the "ban", you may be required to cover the cloth one with a bouffant, or you may get yelled at/written up/in "trouble" depending on whether there are any zealots around who like to make it a thing. As a student, best not to tempt fate.

Also, no, wearing a cloth scrub cap will not get you honors.
 
Smurfette said:
There are some places where it is "banned" to wear cloth ones due to interpretation of data/overzealous RN staff. In these places, you may be fine wearing it because no one cares despite the "ban", you may be required to cover the cloth one with a bouffant, or you may get yelled at/written up/in "trouble" depending on whether there are any zealots around who like to make it a thing. As a student, best not to tempt fate.
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Yeah I agree with this too,

I’d add my perspective. there must be a lot of variety across the country cause I swear every place I’ve been there’s always a few nurses, assistants, techs and surgeons wearing colorful scrub caps. I’d say outside of students probably 25-50% had cloth scrub caps.

Usually with lots of funny and colorful patterns. It made it super easy to figure out which person was which at a glance. I swear I have no idea how everyone remembers everyone else unless you work there for years.

For example I was a surgery center with just two ORs for one month but met around 15 different surgeons and their assistants (not sure exactly, literally lost count) in addition to the preceptor. And another place had 20 ORs so it was just pretty busy in general.

I’ve never once had any issues with cloth caps, though I only wear it occasionally, and that was after a few months of in rotations. TBH I never asked anyone about it but it seemed like a thing people do and I found that it helped the techs and nurses remember me. Of course I’d like to introduce myself everyday but there’s dozens of people running around so it’s sort of like a name tag you can wear while scrubbed in.

Minor reasons are also feel it’s more eco friendly to have reusable scrub cap and if the disposable scrub skull caps run out in as the big bouffants don’t sit well with short hair.
 
Thank you all for your input!
It looks like I don't need to buy a cloth cap then.

At my school, some students, and nearly 100% of residents, wear a cloth cap. For students, it seems like it's their way of signaling they want to go into surgery (but I'm not sure of this).
 
Idk why this is funny, the nurses have required you write your name and description (M3/M4/PA student, tech student, etc) at every OR I’ve seen. Is this not the case usually?
 
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definitely dont NEED it but if you're going into surgery, then it is totally reasonable to have one.
 
MDMechEngr said:
Make sure you get one with your undergrad logo, especially if you attended a big name school like U Mich, UCLA, Cal, etc..
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TBF, I will 💯 % be doing this if I actually go into a surgical field.
 
Surgery was my first clerkship and I remember walking into the OR with another classmate. They were wearing a disposable bouffant cap they grabbed outside the PACU like an absolute fool. They made a mad dash to the OR hoping to be deemed worthy of first assist. They walked with that speed walk shimmy that no matter what I did I couldn't catch up, I couldn't get to them in time to warn them. Everyone else was sporting their stylish caps from etsy and amazon, each with their own unique personality like little cats or minions, while he stood there looking like someone who didn't know his glove size.

As expected, the surgeon immediately kicked them out of the OR and personally called the clerkship director. They got like 97th percentile on the shelf and barely scraped a "P" on their rotation.
 
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Terrainport said:
definitely dont NEED it but if you're going into surgery, then it is totally reasonable to have one.
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Also, if you’re gonna go into surgery, make sure the cap does not have cute cats printed on it or say “Diprivan”. I work with surgeons who have been wearing the bouffant for 30+ years. I’d estimate about half the attending surgeons at my hospital wear the bouffant. Not everyone has time to worry about hats.
 
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Definitely don't do that as a medical student. It looks a bit pretentious. Use the disposable ones and just go with it.
 
I had so things on my plate as a medical student. I did want the cap to be another thing I have to worry about. I still wear the disposable ones until today as an attending.
 
I prefer the disposable caps, and I've continued to use them and no one has said anything. It's more sanitary, especially when stuff splashes, since I can just throw it away at the end of the day.

Most of my classmates wear cloth caps, to either signal they are going into surgery, or to pretend to signal they are going into surgery. I probably won't go into surgery, but I of course want a good grade, since that helps no matter what.
 
lone_cypress said:
I prefer the disposable caps, and I've continued to use them and no one has said anything. It's more sanitary, especially when stuff splashes, since I can just throw it away at the end of the day.

Most of my classmates wear cloth caps, to either signal they are going into surgery, or to pretend to signal they are going into surgery. I probably won't go into surgery, but I of course want a good grade, since that helps no matter what.
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I honestly thought this was a **** post.

Are you sure these people are "signaling" and not that youre just misinterpreting typical Type A med student behavior or folks who just want a nice cap (I'd get one if I was planning on using it for more than 1.5 rotations). I'm not sure about you, but people can like... speak and say "hey i'm interested in going into surgery" and that's usually how people figure out what they're interested in.

Also you don't need to pretend you're going into something to get a good grade. Everyone is different, but if I saw someone just pretty much lie to me about their interests to brown nose I would give them a not-so-good eval.
 
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Idk. I want to do anesthesia, have some semi-job in anesthesia, got scrub caps to remind me of “better times” between MS2 and MS3. I wore them in my OB/Gyn rotation and plan to wear them on my surgery rotation because… I like them. It never crossed my mind that someone would think anything about me wearing a non-disposable scrub cap… Why? Mainly because I’d like to think that residents and attendings have better things to do and pay attention to rather than if an MS3 is wearing a non-disposable scrub cap. Unless of course the scrub cap is something that screams “Look at me!!!” (Mine are not - just some Hawaiian prints…)
 
Finally, almost all students got their own scrub caps. I was one of ~3 who didn't. I don't think it mattered that much.
And everyone made it a point to tell residents how badly they wanted to do surgery, even people who I know (from conversations we've had) don't want to go into surgery.
 
lone_cypress said:
Finally, almost all students got their own scrub caps. I was one of ~3 who didn't. I don't think it mattered that much.
And everyone made it a point to tell residents how badly they wanted to do surgery, even people who I know (from conversations we've had) don't want to go into surgery.
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Sounds like you have a spine! Thats rare these days...
 
Tbh, I didn’t know there was any unspoken rules about this lol. I definitely had to buy my own because I have awful facial hyperhydrosis. The second my body senses any heat, I start profusely sweating from my forehead. So, unless I wanted my forehead sweat dripping into a patient’s abdomen, I had to buy my own. I bought some plain black scrub caps that had an absorbable headband built into them and never got any comments on it! One classmate ended up asking me why I had my own and once I explained, they were like “fair enough, I’d do the same.”

So, you do you. If someone feels ~offended~ enough to make a comment, that’s on them and not you bruh.
 
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