They're fashion classics, always appropriate, always stylish, accomodating all body types, ubiquitous but individual. In the hospital, washed-out blue is the new black. You can layer them over a t-shirt or wife-beater, under a white coat, and you can wear them home if you're feeling tired enough that you're willing to ignore how tacky it is to wear scrubs outside the hospital (so gauche).
So true! (but a spirited rebuttal from Noah's "busty" sister appears here).
Last month, I worked in many emergency department attendings requested shirt & tie for the men, citing studies that patient compliance, and physician authority, is enhanced with formal attire (this study is the closest proof I could find).
This month, it's scrub city, baby! And damned if everyone doesn't look fabulous. Best variations: for men, light blue scrub top with khaki cargo pants. For women, blue scrub pants with tight black cotton top. Works great with or without white coat. Attendings whose scrubs reveal tattoos get bonus points.
By the way, evidence is really lacking in the attire / respect / compliance debate. Consider this:
Nearly 30% of patients incorrectly identified their doctor as wearing a necktie when no necktie was worn, and the perception of tie wearing was correlated with a positive impression of physician appearance. Wearing or not wearing a necktie did not significantly affect patients' impression of their physician or the care they received. However, patients seemingly preferred the appearance of physicians who were perceived to wear neckties.
This suggests the old maxim, "the suit makes the man" isn't true! Instead, good male doctors can make patients percieve that they're wearing a tie, even when they're not. How's that for projecting authority?