When did nursing caps go extinct in the wild?

Nurses General Nursing

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I wore a cap for my first year of nursing in the mid 1990's. By then only the occasional student wore caps.

I last saw a working nurse wear a cap in 1995. She was an older lady who worked night shift on one of my clinical units.

When did you last see a nurse (not a student) wearing the cap?

mine wouldn't stay on my head.. no matter what I did..

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1999 when I left my nursing home job.

I remember the nurses put them on at work and took them off before they drove home.

I like them.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Transplant.

I have never seen anyone wear them...and can imagine that they would be kind of impractical...but as someone who loves hats, I think it would be fun in a way :-)

I also think a part of me would have loved having an actual uniform to wear. As much as I love wearing whatever scrubs I want, sometimes I'm a little perturbed when I look around at work and see people wearing t-shirts instead of scrub tops, random cardigans/etc instead of a warm-up jacket, and the like. I think it looks sloppy :-/

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OMG...I think mine is crushed somewhere....since I moved......Nursing caps were just part of the uniform.....it was nice...but not very hygenic and was a germ carrier....not that your uniform isnt...but this is what I heard way back when, that nurses stopped using them because they got dirty and you couldnt wash them and they were just an annoyance, falling off and all.

Not "couldn't" but wouldn't when it came to washing caps is more like things. You would go into any locker room and find caps thrown on floors, on top and or stashed in lockers, to be put on only when required and or even shared about from shift to shift (again as or if required).

By the 1960's or even before Kay's, White Swan and others came out with no starch caps that required little in terms of care. See end of this post for directions.

Mind you there were still some old school starched caps around either new or from those who graduated long ago that needed a bit more work The famous Phiadelphia General Hospital School of Nurses would be one. That beauty required special ironing and starching that only professionals could usually do and there was only one laundry in the world entrusted with the secret.

Up until the 1950's or so depending upon where one lived starching and ironing was a routine part of laundry day regardless. Know in the South they starched the heck out of everything back in the day and often still do, especially jeans. First reason was clear; in the damp and humid climate stiff starch gave cotton fabrics body and kept them from wilting/going limp the minute you walked out the door.

Given you were going to be starching and ironing *anyway* doing one or two nursing caps wasn't likely to add that much to your wash day blues.

Nurses who *cared* about their caps took them off after duty, placed them in directly into a cap carrier (preferably without touching any hospital surfaces), and took them home. When next reporting for duty the process was reversed.

Modern no starch caps merely require a good swish in warm water, rinse and laid flat (or plastered to a flat surface even the sides of the fridge) to dry. Once done attach bands if any, refold and place back into carrier. Easy peasy. The only time caps got grossly filthy is when they were allowed to go weeks, months or years without washing.

As for caps being a germ carrier, nonsense. Not a single study exists IIRC showing nurses caps are a vector for infection. Considering the rapid increase in HAI long after caps have ceased being standard uniform one suspects patients (and by extension nurses) have lots of other things to fear than a square foot of white material pinned on someone's head.

Real reason behind the demise of caps was the starting movement towards nursing as a "profession" and away from "doctor's handmaiden" image. Younger women entering the profession in the late 1970's and throughout the 1980's and so forth saw modern nurse as something far different.

What also happened is during the last *real* nursing shortage facilities had to give on certain things in order to attract and retain staff. What was left of mandatory wearing of caps as part of dress codes was got shot of, as well as the restrictions on "whites" being the only type of uniform allowed on the floors. Scrub envy had finally won out and little by little places started to let staff nurses wear scrubs. Formerly the only nurses who were allowed this privilege were those staffing the OR, units, and usually L&D (but not always maternity and or newborn nursery).

Psych & Peds by then in most places had gone to either street clothing (former) and cutesy tops at least (latter) for various reasons.

Laundering instructions from Kay's Caps:

NEED NO STARCH - WASHING INSTRUCTIONS

IF SLIGHTLY SOILED:

1. Rub clean with small hand brush, soap and warm water

2. Run off soap under faucet

3. Dry flat on towel - do not wring. Ironing is optional

4. DO NOT USE BLEACH.

IF BADLY SOILED:

1. Wash in warm soapy water

2. Scrub clean. Rinse and dry as above

3. Iron with moderate iron.

DO NOT DRY CLEAN. CAP WILL DISINTEGRATE!

****

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As to "can't wash," of course you can. But nobody likes doing hand washing of delicates anymore. Mine is stiff enough to clean with a brush, but I don't wear it anyway, so it sits, dusty and yellowing, on my dresser.

As to pantyhose, some of us remember nylons with garter belts or (gasp) girdles. When pantyhose came in and OR / PACU nurses (we all wore scrub DRESSES in those years, never scrub shirts and pants) started wearing them, infection rates in the OR dropped. True story.

AORN has long advocated for scrub tops and pants instead of dresses to decrease the risk of patient infections. Apparently studies were done as to the source of the pathogens and was determined "shedding" from under nurses scrub dresses was the culprit. As the poster stated this was the era when many women still work stockings and suspender belts, leaving the *ahem* central area "free" (well aside from knickers and or a girdle), thus allowing *debris* to go free and scatter as the nurse moved about.

If scrub dresses are worn heavy topped pantyhose (IIRC) or a similar undergarment are recommending to contain any debris. Better still AORN recommends the dress be tucked into scrub pants.

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I live in California and have never seen anyone wear a cap. Not even students. All the students I have seen wear white uniforms but no caps or dresses.

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Specializes in ICU.

When did they go extinct? I agree with the person who said "not soon enough!" We wore them until the early 1990's, and then only if you were wearing white dresses or white pant suits. They were never worn with "scrubs."

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AORN has long advocated for scrub tops and pants instead of dresses to decrease the risk of patient infections. Apparently studies were done as to the source of the pathogens and was determined "shedding" from under nurses scrub dresses was the culprit. As the poster stated this was the era when many women still work stockings and suspender belts, leaving the *ahem* central area "free" (well aside from knickers and or a girdle), thus allowing *debris* to go free and scatter as the nurse moved about.

You're kidding, right?! Eww!

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

AORN has long advocated for scrub tops and pants instead of dresses to decrease the risk of patient infections. Apparently studies were done as to the source of the pathogens and was determined "shedding" from under nurses scrub dresses was the culprit. As the poster stated this was the era when many women still work stockings and suspender belts, leaving the *ahem* central area "free" (well aside from knickers and or a girdle), thus allowing *debris* to go free and scatter as the nurse moved about.

What the what. I thought I couldn't be grossed out by this site anymore after all the horror stories I've read. This is absolutely terrifying!

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Maybe it's regional because I'm in California and haven't seen one since the mid-eighties in hospitals generally. Never wore one after graduation.

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Specializes in pediatrics; PICU; NICU.

I graduated in 1978 & we still wore our caps then. I went straight into Peds after I graduated. The hospital required nurses to wear caps so I did. I quickly realized caps are very impractical in Peds. When you have to take care of kids in "cage cribs", the cap keeps getting knocked off. By the time I left that hospital a year later, TPTB were pondering whether to allow Peds nurses to not wear caps.

Going through boxes of pictures since my dad passed away in March, I came across my graduation picture. In spite of the fact that caps are not practical & get in the way, I still am proud when I look at that picture. I well remember my capping ceremony. The cap was the outward sign of all the hard work we put in.

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Specializes in ED.

Never seen a nurse wear one, aside from my step-mom's nursing graduation picture from the 80's. No thanks!

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