Been nursing for half a century!

When I first graduated I wore my cap to work on holidays, along with a "dress" uniform. The patients appreciated.

I did not care for the fact that every time I bent down to empty a foley that my cap would inevitably hit the bed and jam the bobby pins into my head though.

I've always been treated with a measure of respect and almost awe when wearing my cap in public.

The last time I wore it was in 1995 for the Nurses March on Washington. I rode the metro into D.C. and had numerous people asking why I was in whites and wearing a hat. They were thrilled when I told them what we were doing and they treated me more respectfully than any time I've worn my scrubs out in public.

Congratulations, that is such an accomplishment!

OMG, you made me do a little math and it is approaching 39 years for me.

I worked with a RN in Woodville Texas who is 78, graduated in 1949 !!! from her nursing school, Was the director of a county LVN school for years, works part time at the little county hospital, and PRN weekend supv at a nursing home & "Still has IT going on.".

My gosh, we keep ticking, longer than a TIMEX watch... > grins & congratulations<

Congratulations!!!! I hope to get there as well......

I work in LTC now, and when I wear all white, usually once or twice a week, I wear my cap........ the Older Residents, get a kick, and that "sorta lost, yea I remember look on the faces of some of the cognitive impaired" is a heart warmer. I am blessed that I get to get a bit nostalgic, and who knows maybe therapeutic... so often.......

I wouldn't ever want to try to work in a dress or wear a cap as my hair is very short and wouldn't hold it in a million years. One of the reasons I didn't go to nursing school out of high school was because they had to wear dresses that had something like 50+ buttons that had to be closed with a button hook. This was at UAB in 1970. A friend of mine went and she said it took 15 minutes to get your uniform buttoned. The skirts were fairly short as was the style at that time, and I could never have stayed decent and did the things we have to do!

With that all said, I love the idea of nurses wearing white. If our hospital ever declares that we all have to wear certain uniforms, I do hope the RN's wear white as that still symbolizes our profession. I frequently wear white pants with a colored top and white vest or jacket. I also like to wear solids rather than prints, but then I am an old new nurse and remember vividly the nurses from my child hood in their white starched uniforms and caps.

My mother was a nurse in the 1930's and the stories she told were amazing.....but they did not make me want to be a nurse. I wasn't as tough or as willing as she,LOL! She wanted me to be a nurse so badly, guess she saw it in me though it took me a long, long time to let my inner nurse come out!

Mahage

I have just entered nursing school, but once I was in the hospital being treated for Cholitis and I was awfully dehydrated and they were having a terrible time getting an IV started on my little bitty veins. Eventually they called in the "house" nurse and she was able to come in and start that IV with no problems. I asked her how long she had been a nurse and she told me she was celebrating her 50th anniversary that month! I felt so honered to be treated by her. I thought it was the most amazing thing! Of course I asked her if she wore the hat and uniform and she said yes, and that she missed wearing the uniforms.

Thanks for sharing! You are so awesome! Very uplifting and just what I needed to hear.