Forced to wear nurses' hat

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Every Sunday when we serve we have to wear all white with the nurses' cap. Everyone on the nurses ministry hate wearing the hat for obvious reasons( falls off, gets dirty, ugly). I liked the hate during pinning but now I despise it. Another, issue some of us have is that not everyone on the nursing ministry are nurses. Some people are techs, respiratory therapists and secretaries. I feel they are misreprensented when wearing the nurses hats as everyone assume we are all nurses. We have voiced our concerns to the lead nurse in charge but she will not budge and forces us to wear the hats.

We wanted to make our case more prominant but couldn't find anything evidenced based or strong to make our case.

I'm happy to be serving and I mainly do this for my love for God. I know this is what He wants me to do.

Have any of you ever been forced to wear these hats? If so, how did you handle it?

Well, I emailed her and gave her the information. At our next nurses' meeting I will be bringing up the topics again of the hat, giving OTC meds ( which is not allowed per MBON) and changing the name.

Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Good for you!!

Specializes in psychiatric, corrections.

Hmmm, well I could see the use of a hat. When service was in session everyone would know where to find you. But I am sure just wearing different color scrubs would suffice. Not sure if you're catholic but maybe wearing a St. Agatha (patron saint of nurses) would suffice? All those wearing the pin must be RNs. The hat is terribly old fashioned, honestly I would have trouble taking you seriously wearing that thing. Which may be something to bring up at the meeting. That's like a doctor wearing one of those headbands with the mirrors (Otolaryngologist's Mirror) there's no way I could have a serious conversation with him/her until he took it off....

So what do you do when the BON says wearing hats are not allowed if you are not a RN and LPN but the lead nurse continues to purse this?

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Non-nurses giving meds and wearing nursing caps could cause serious legal problems for the church. If the lead nurse doesn't want to change things, perhaps the head pastor will. I doubt they want to see church members end up in the news for impersonating nurses.

Hope you have Good Samaritan law in your state.

Seriously whacked! Where would you even get one? Nursing antique store?

This is absurd. Most hospitals don't even allow nursing caps because they're just plain unsanitary. I think there are serious liability issues at stake here so I'd think twice before blowing my nursing license here.

I guess there aren't any guys on the team, huh? That'd be precious! :nurse:

I have never heard of a church needing first responders (that's what it sounds like your team is providing) standing by during service. Is your church near a retirement community? Do you do the snake-handling thing? :unsure: ;)

Good luck, remember God does have a sense of humor, he invented the duck-billed platypus!

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
I guess there aren't any guys on the team, huh? That'd be precious! :nurse:

My school did away with caps for women two or three years before I went through school. My school's caps were hideous. I'm glad that my female classmates didn't have to endure that. I went to a striping ceremony once while they still wore caps, and the guys just got lapel pins that looked like black lieutenant bars.

I guess there aren't any guys on the team, huh? That'd be precious! :nurse:

I have never heard of a church needing first responders (that's what it sounds like your team is providing) standing by during service. Is your church near a retirement community? Do you do the snake-handling thing? :unsure: ;)

Good luck, remember God does have a sense of humor, he invented the duck-billed platypus!

Snake handling? Tooo funny! Seriously, I've been at a church with quite a few elderly members and one dragged an oxygen tank behind her...bless their hearts. Apparently EMS would sometimes be called and they would quietly take someone out of church, and the service never missed a beat.

Specializes in Faith Community Nurse (FCN).

I'm sorry but I can hardly believe that anyone still wears a nurse's cap, let alone a parish nurse. May God bless you with lots of patience!

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