Scans and screenshots by Janet. Screenshots from [TNG: Season 2: Samaritan Snare] unless otherwise stated. Text adapted from section sources. Optimum page viewing.
The medical gowns worn by Starfleet medical personnel during this period and seen particularly in [TNG: Season 2: Samaritan Snare] are in service into the 2370's. Dr Bashir, chief medical officer of Deep Space 9 in the late 2360's and into the 2370's is seen wearing the same style of medical gown in [DS9: Season 3: Life Support]. The gowns are not seen in [Voyager] - aboard USS Voyager the Doctor uses a device to scrub up for surgery (as seen in [#46 The Swarm]) but otherwise does not, being a hologram, need to 'wear' special clothing, although usually his patients wear a blue gown, and instead containment fields are employed to maintain a sterile atmosphere.
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surgical gowns, [Voyager] patient gowns
SURGICAL GOWNS
Nurse Chapel and Dr McCoy [TOS: ?]
The various changes in the style of Starfleet standard duty uniforms over the period of more than a century leads naturally to Starfleet Medical personnel wearing a variety of different uniforms. The level of physical coverage surrounding the medical practitioner tends to reflect the nature of treatment being carried out on an injury, and therefore a number of routine procedures and minor operations can be carried out while wearing the normal duty uniform. A precedent for such operating procedures is set during the 2260's by the famous Dr Leonard McCoy, chief medical officer aboard USS Enterprise NCC-1701, who does not don special protective clothing in order to conduct operations.
The various standard uniforms worn by Starfleet Medical staff are discussed under other subsections along with the standard duty uniforms of other departments such as command and science. However, this page discusses the scarlet surgical gown adopted in the 2360's by Starfleet Medical for serious medical procedures. It is particularly seen in [TNG: Season 2: Samaritan Snare] and in [DS9: Season 3: Life Support].
[DS9: Season 3: Life Support]
In 2365 the surgical gowns used in major Starfleet Medical facilities, such as Starbase 515 and Deep Space 9, are available to chief medical officers and their staff on any starship carrying significant medical facilities. Large-scale and complex procedures are not possible on smaller starships where the medical facilities are designed for emergency treatment only, such as the minimal facilities aboard Defiant-class starships. This may also account for why the scarlet gowns are not seen aboard USS Voyager.
The medical gowns worn by operating personnel are supplemented in the 24th century by low-level containment fields developed to maintain a sterile atmosphere and decrease the possibility of infection. Those containment fields were not available in the days of Dr McCoy. On USS Voyager there is an area known as the surgical bay which contains the main bio-bed, and a forcefield can be erected to contain infection and, incidentally, to secure a prisoner.
a medical forcefield is erected at the entrance to the surgical bay as the Doctor has just diagnosed Janeway as having the Vidiian phage [#57 Coda]
The full, scarlet-coloured body-suits are usually worn by every member of a surgical team during an operation. In 2365 a nine-strong medical team, led by Dr Katherine Pulaski, uses the protective outfits while carrying out the cardiac replacement technique pioneered by Dr Van Doren on Jean-Luc Picard when the patient's previoius parthenogenic implant malfunctions. The mortality rate for this operation is 2.4 per cent, extremely low for a procedure of this magnitude, but nevertheless the full protective suits are worn for additional safeguard.
There are a number of problematic areas for a surgeon operating under such conditions. The hands are always one of the possible weak inks during surgery as many diseases can be communicated through touch alone, and so the operating surgeon wears red synthetic gloves to form an effective barrier against infection. The gloves are extremely tight-fitting and are designed to give the surgeon the maximum amount of sensitivity as they work on the patient. The gloves are removed and destroyed after use. The rest of the surgeon's body is entirely covered by a hard-wearing and comfortable material which is split into three main articles: a pair of loose-fitting trousers, a long tunic that runs down to above the knees, and a square-cut hood that completely encases the top, back and sides of the surgeon's head and hence covers all the head hair. A pair of red-coloured surgical boots is worn in the operating theatre. The long-sleeved gown fits snugly into the wrist openings of the gloves, in the same way that the bottoms of the surgical trousers tuck into the top of the boots. The cut of the upper tunic is tailored close to the body, reducing the chance of loose material impeding work, and yet is designed not to inhibit the free movement of the arms during the operation. The high collar fits into the hood with no break in the material, forming an effective seal that frames the surgeon's face in front of the ears and below the jawline. No mask for the front of the face seems to be employed.
It may be no accident that the scarlet surgical gowns are the same colour as human blood (and that of certain other species). Despite many advances in medical techniques and equipment, surgery is still a messy business even in the 24th century. Seriously wounded patients may well be bleeding heavily depending on the nature of the injury. The gowns not only reduce the risk of infection but also lessen the shocking sight of blood on the surgeon.
SHOW FRIVOLOUS NOTE RE 20TH/21ST CENTURY GOWN COLOUR
On certain parts of Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries, medical surgeons and their staff wore/wear green gowns. Dr K. Ghattas explains: "Green is the predominant colour of clothing in an operating theatre because it is the complementary colour of red (blood). Complementary colours when mixed together produce a murky brown-green whilst when placed side to side produce violent contrasts. The effect of this is to concentrate the eye on the operating site which stands out briliantly from the surrounding green which yet remains muky and dully even if blood spills on it." Mandeep Ahluwalia explains: "Doctors and nurses wear green in the operating theatre to match the colour of the patients."HIDE NOTE
the above 2 screenshots are from [DS9: Season 3: Life Support]
[VOYAGER] PATIENT GOWNS
makeshft sickbay in the messhall; [#157 Shattered]
A blue gown is often worn by patients who spend any length of time in USS Voyager's sickbay. If there is a real emergency or too many patients and not enough gowns or even not enough bio-beds, the messhall is sometimes used as a triage point and makeshift sickbay e.g. [#54 Macrocosm].
back of the gown
above 4 screenshots: Ensign Seska in sickbay; [#11 State Of Flux]
Ensign Samantha Wildman, in sickbay for the birth of her child [#37 Deadlock]
Tuvok wakes from a coma; note the collar and shoulder detail plus the 'ribbed' appearance of the gown [#126 Riddles]
![this page covers part of the [Voyager] era](unifpics/voy_splash_by_janet.jpg)
There are a number of problematic areas for a surgeon operating under such conditions. The hands are always one of the possible weak inks during surgery as many diseases can be communicated through touch alone, and so the operating surgeon wears red synthetic gloves to form an effective barrier against infection. The gloves are extremely tight-fitting and are designed to give the surgeon the maximum amount of sensitivity as they work on the patient. The gloves are removed and destroyed after use. The rest of the surgeon's body is entirely covered by a hard-wearing and comfortable material which is split into three main articles: a pair of loose-fitting trousers, a long tunic that runs down to above the knees, and a square-cut hood that completely encases the top, back and sides of the surgeon's head and hence covers all the head hair. 
A pair of red-coloured surgical boots is worn in the operating theatre. The long-sleeved gown fits snugly into the wrist openings of the gloves, in the same way that the bottoms of the surgical trousers tuck into the top of the boots. The cut of the upper tunic is tailored close to the body, reducing the chance of loose material impeding work, and yet is designed not to inhibit the free movement of the arms during the operation. The high collar fits into the hood with no break in the material, forming an effective seal that frames the surgeon's face in front of the ears and below the jawline. No mask for the front of the face seems to be employed.
"Doctors and nurses wear green in the operating theatre to match the colour of the patients."
