My husband sent me an email yesterday with an excited “Check this out!” in the subject line. I clicked on the link and it was pictures of contemporary nurses, working and wearing nurse’s caps. Apparently my husband thought (as had I) that the wearing of caps in the workplace had died out some time ago.
It made me think about not only caps, but uniforms in general. Back when I was in nursing school the first time, our uniform was an uncomfortable and unforgiving white dress with a blue-edged pinafore. White hose only, and proper nursing shoes. I remember when I put that scratchy thing on, I felt like an imposter—like I was playing dress up in someone else’s clothes. But when we started our clinicals, I saw lots of nurses wearing the traditional white dress and I thought, “Ok, that’s how it goes I guess.”
Fast forward almost 20 years when I entered nursing school again. This time, our uniforms were white scrub pants, white scrub tops, and sensible nursing shoes. Still no caps, of which I was glad, but also no more dresses. It’s amazing how easy it was to bend, move, and lift wearing the nice, baggy scrub pants the school was now allowing. And while all the nurses I saw were in scrub pants and not in dresses, I could count on one hand how many actually wore white. Instead, scrubs have bloomed into lots of different colors and patterns.
After graduation, people joked that they would burn their nursing school scrubs. They wanted the freedom to choose their own clothes, and to step away from the white which in many minds during school, came to symbolize ‘student’ rather than ‘nurse.’
I guess I am different because I kept my scrub uniform, and wore it until there were one too many stains on it to justify its continued use. Even now, I wear white pants almost exclusively at work, and my tops are generally solid color and low-key.
Local hospitals have been establishing dress codes recently, in order to better allow the patient to understand who is the nurse and who is, say, the environmental service provider, seeing as everyone wears scrubs. So far my hospital isn’t quite on the bandwagon yet, although there was a pilot involving the colors white, black, and khaki. Now, however, we are just wearing really big badge clips with RN or LPN on them, and that seems to suffice.
I personally feel that the color white is associated with medicine, and that we should take ownership of it. Doctors, NP’s, PA’s, Residents…they all have white lab coats. Nurses are the only medical professionals who are traditionally associated with white pants. Sure its hard to keep clean, and sure they get dirty easy—but that’s why they are scrubs and that’s why they are inexpensive and budget friendly.
Me, I will be in whites until the day I retire. I’m even thinking of buying a cap, just for fun.
Tags: lpn, nursing scrubs, rn, scrubs, whites
RSS
Entries (RSS)
Give me back whites for licenced nurses and caps are ok too!
I graduated from a PN program in 1990, and an RN program in 1993. Both schools located in Massachusetts had a student uniform that were traditional and include the school’s specific cap style. For the student wearing the uniform, complaints about it occurred daily but secretely we felt special because of this visual recognition of our status. I still have my caps and now that I teach in the PN program that I graduated from I wear my cap a few times during the year to clinical, and always wear the cap to graduation. I treasure my caps but due to the fact that the RN program no longer uses their cap, I will not be able to replace it easily so i save it for special occasions.
The color white symbolized cleanliness. Delivering nursing care can be messy but in 18 years of wearing white there have only been a handfull of times when I became so heavily soiled that I needed to change. In todays world of health care many health care settings assign bathing and cleanup of patients to assistive personnel, so the nurse can use the various types of PPEs like disposable gowns and aprons to protect their clothing from contamination. I ask you isn’t easier to see stains and contamination on white istead of dark colors and prints?
Yes, I know that as a society, individuality is valued but being a nurse is a vocation that deserves to be respected and recognized. When a person enters a health care facility it is difficult to tell who the NURSE is. The Nurse needs to be easily reconizable to the clients, families, visitors and staff members at a glance. Having a name tag that identifies who you are and your professional status is legally required by many states, but think of how close you need to get to a person to read a name tag. I have heard people who are not employees of a health care facility call anyone in Scrubs “NURSE”. And even worse I have heard staff members who are not nurses say “Can I help you?” without clarifying their professional standing. As nurses we are one of the most highly respected professions, we need to step up and be identified.
Now, the cap is another issue. People always complained about Nurses caps: they are uncomfortable, they are a pain, they fall off, they are unsanitary, they spread infection. Well, back in the “old days” nurse were required to keep their hair short or styled in a neat tight style that was off the collar. The cap was an added way to restrain the hair and keep it from contaminating the patients personal space. The free following hair I see nurses sporting on hospital units make me cringe. In order to keep their hair out of their faces, long haired people flip it back with their hands,etc. We are performing treatments that require the observation of aseptic technique and loose hair from the nurse’s head has never appeared on any equipment list I have seen.
Nurse’s caps only get contaminated when they are touched by something that is contaminated ( Dirty hands!). The solution: keep your hands out of your hair! Caps stay on the nurses head when they are properly secured. I encourage my students to use 4-6 booby pins and to sew a clear small plastic hair comb into the cap. This trick worked for me and I never droped a cap into a bed pan. Caps are commented on by many older clients as a positive thing. In the long term facilities in Massachusetts we hear, “You look so nice all in white and in you cap.” I think the nurses cap is lost forever, but Whites are still out there. Nurses Unite Wear White! PS I need a Nursing Cap from University of RI then I will have a cap from all 3 of my nursing school experiences.
Of the patients I’ve been privileged to serve (in ICU SICU, and rehabs) over the past 8 years, almost all have complimented me on my attire of a clean, pressed, white uniform.
Wearing white pants, a white jacket, and a solid colored shirt provides a presence of professionalism. Whatever attire is acceptable to the facility is a reflection on that
facility as well as the nurse. How can anyone take you seriously when you are dressed up as a clown? In goofy clown designs and colors? This, of course, is suitable
for pediatrics, but I’ve even had family members say “I feel more at ease when you’re here - you always look so nice and professional,some of these nurses look so
sloppy”. However, this is America - and as long as the hospital, rehab, nursing home, or doctor’s office advocates busy/dizzy/goofy scrubs, it’s okay. But is there
any wonder why doctors sometimes have a difficult time taking nurses seriously?
My first day of clinicals back in 1978, my sister got up at 5:00am to take my picture. It was the first time anyone in my family got to see me as the professonal I would become. I love the picture..I’m dressed in a neat white pansuit with a school patch on the arm a large “Student Nurse” nametag, a bright red stehoscope (my only true stand out for personality!), a Timex watch with a second hand, and a nurses cap with the school logo on the side. I had about 20 pins in my very short hair to keep it on too!. I also have a big smile on my face because I was so proud of myself. I wear my nursing cap every year for Halloween; it’s the only time in the year that I can get away with it in my job as a Home Health Clinical Supervisor. I sit in an office staring at a computer most of the day. I tell myself that I’m still using my critical thinking skills that took 20 years of critical care and ED experience to learn, but what can you do when those same 20 years made your back a series of squished discs and lots of pain? So, I’ll wear my cap with pride every year at Halloween and laugh with those that think it’s “cute”, but inside I will remember what it felt like to have people hold your hand when they were afraid of what was happening to their body, or weeping families giving you a hug for taking such good care of their family member. It didn’t matter then what I wore, because I acted as a professional nurse, without being snotty or too big for my britches (scrubs, in different colors!); I kept my patients relaxed by laughing with them, and joking to get them from thinking too hard about their condition; but I could also teach them what they needed to know. They knew who the nurse was, because we were the ones in the room with them, playing with all of those wires, IV bags, and tubing, and we actually knew what we were doing. So, when I’m wearing my cap on Halloween, I’ll remember what it felt like to be a respected member of the only profession I was born to do!
I am so pleased to see these responses, and I am glad I am not the only one who feels passionately about ‘nursing whites’
I really agree with the thoughts about the busy/silly scrubs. I see adult nurses wearing scrubs with cartoon characters on them and I have to wonder if the patients take nurses dressed as such as seriously. I do have a couple print shirts, but they are mellow and floral and I rarely wear them.
And the comment about the hair as well–well said! I see my peers with long hair not held back all I can do is imagine hair falling into a sterile field or an open wound. Yuck! I just cut my hair short so I don’t have to wear a ponytail every day anymore–I’d rather cut it than wear it long!
Christy brings up a good point as well–that its not just what you wear, but how you present yourself over all. I agree that no matter how we are dressed, as professional nurses we need to maintain the whole air of professionalism, and it goes far beyond our clothing.
This is a great discussion!