Why are hospital bed sheets white?

Question

Every hospital I have seen used white sheets. Why is this? Also if someone dies on the sheets do they just rewash them or throw them away? I was just curious!!!!

Answer 1

White is a sign of cleanliness.

And it's also relaxing, it shows purity.

Hospitals have to be clean, because it is full of sick people right.

Well if someone dies peacefully they will re use the sheets.  

Answer 2

LIke what everyone said especially that qualified nurse.

If i walked in to a hospital and everything was black then I wouldn't even feel happy when Im sick in bed. Everything will be black ....

I think colour sheets will be too much anyway.  

Answer 3

No special reason. People may see white as clean and hospitals are suppose to be clean ( even though that's where sick people go). When people die, the sheets get wash and reused, unless the sheets are too soiled from f***s or blood.

I don't care how much you bleach a set of sheets, if a person hemorrhages the blood doesn't come out!

Answer 4

I'm a Certified Nurse Aide and work in a hospital.

White is a very traditional color for hospitals.  Nurses used to wear all-white uniforms.  Therefore, I would assume that this is where the tradition of white sheets came into play.

In addition, white sheets may be easier to clean and/or cheaper than colored sheets.  Who knows, maybe the hospitals of the future will have colored sheets!

Also, we usually don't throw sheets away as long as they are not ripped, damaged, or excessively soiled.  (In other words, sheets are not thrown away just because they were on the bed of someone who expired.)  We have "soiled linen" bags in which we put all of our dirty linens (gowns, washclothes, towels, bed linens).  These bags are either put down laundry shoots or stored in a back room until housekeeping comes to collect them.  After that, we ship all of our linens out to be cleaned.

We use biohazard buckets for severely soiled sheets, which are eventually destroyed.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

it's so they can tell the colour of something that has come out of you. could you imagine trying to see how much blood was lost if the sheets were already red or black? if there was an infection what about green? sometimes the colour helps doctors and nurses see how bad something is eg. urine, the darker it is, the more dehydrated you are. couldn't tell on yellow sheets huh!

dunno about the dead though...