Nightingale Pledge and Nursing hats at pinning ceremony....

I've seen some updated versions of the pledge that I like, that don't get into the "purity" nonsense. If a school really feels the need to use a pledge/oath, I could see using one of those. I agree that the original pledge embodies all the worst Victorian clichés about "womanhood," femininity, servitude, etc. (I can't imagine that Flo herself would have ever written such drivel, or allowed her name to be attached to it!)

I am aware of the "purity pledge" movement -- the whole business gives me the heebie-jeebies (the father-daughter connection), and I think it's interesting that studies have been done that have found that this type of program not only doesn't work (rates of premarital sex are no lower than the general teen popularion), but the participants actually end up with higher teen pregnancy rates than the "heathen" girls who don't take part in such programs.

Good luck -- if you're that close to graduation, you've already gotten through a lot worse! (than having to memorize the pledge, that is )

Caps? Nightengale pledge? How... lame.

Students in my class would've raised h-ll over having a pinning like that...

Thank the good lord that I didn't have to do any of this; in fact this is the first time I've heard of anything like this. G'luck with it!

I'm female and that pledge wants to make ME barf!

Back in the Nightingale days, nurses were spinsters. If they married, they had to leave the profession. So the "purity" comment, in this context DOES imply virginal. UGH. We are sooooo past that point in this profession!

I am female and the Nightingale Pledge is outdated, religious AND too girlie.

No wonder we have trouble being treated as professionals sometimes.

As you can see from this board, many of the people in nursing now are unaware of the pledge -- I guarantee you no one outside of nursing is aware of it. Of all the issues keeping nurses down, I would venture to say the Nightingale Pledge is the least of our problems ...

Just had our pinnining ceremony August 3rd. We wore caps if we wanted to and we did recite the Nightingale pledge but we all voted on this were not made to by our instructor and we did not memorize the pledge either we recited it after our instructor. Not all of the women in my class wore hats but our class pictures were still great. Some even decided to wear the dress instead of scrubs. I do not think this is all that bad. But like I said we all voted on what we wanted to do our pinning ceremony was ours not something our instuctor decided for us to do.