Early Fashion...remember this?

DoGoodThenGo · Sep 1, 2014

Final note on skirts, especially minis and nursing.

Those wearing soon became acutely aware of how proper body mechanics not only preserved one's back but also modesty. *LOL*

That is when having to pick something up from the floor or say adjust a wheelchair, bed, cath bag etc... you bent *at the knee* and not from the waist. I leave it to your collective imaginations as to the rationale. *LOL* Remember this was also the era of hand cranked beds and multiple bed wards/rooms. You have no idea how many naïve young nurses, students, nurse's aides would be summoned and asked to raise or lower a bed in a room or ward full of males. It was all lads together and after a few instances the female soon realized what all that giggling and other verbal sounds were about. You also quickly learned it was not often safe to turn your back on a good number of male patients from teens through their 90's who had a cane or crutches.

RNIBCLC · Sep 1, 2014

This thread is a great review on nursing history and uniforms. I like it.

NICU_Nightingale, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2014

Can I just say I graduate in December and my school does the whole pinning ceremony... Therefore I will be purchasing my own cap and getting graduation pictures in it. Call me a traditionalist I guess, I love the cap- so unique to nursing. You nurses are so lucky to have one (even if you hate them haha)

DoGoodThenGo · Sep 1, 2014

Just in case anyone is wondering the above photo shows "Hanes House School of Nursing" which is still around and part of Duke University. HANES HOUSE | Open Durham

RNIBCLC · Sep 1, 2014

Can I just say I graduate in December and my school does the whole pinning ceremony... Therefore I will be purchasing my own cap and getting graduation pictures in it. Call me a traditionalist I guess, I love the cap- so unique to nursing. You nurses are so lucky to have one (even if you hate them haha)

Good for you! I think it should be a rite of passage. Enjoy!

DoGoodThenGo · Sep 1, 2014

ok. Now you have created images I did NOT need in my head prior to going to bed. Thanks!
Seriously, though....I'd LOVE to see the data on "perineal fallout". REALLY??
What the XU*#Y%Y is falling OUT??

Well you can start by researching the work of Anna Hambraeus done in 1988 regarding air borne bacteria in ORs.

DoGoodThenGo · Sep 2, 2014

And perineal fallout is bad but nothing is said about male chest and facial hair? I've seen some men with more hair sticking out of the top of their scrub top than you'd find on several ladies', well, use your imagination, combined.

AORN's recommendations and perineal fallout has probably caused just as much commotion in the OR as that other professional nursing body's "mandatory BSN for entry" recommendation.

Problems start in part it seems because AORN "rules" the OR as far as many accreditation bodies go and that of course translates into nurses on the ground running things. That is all very well but the authority of nurses over physicians, techs, salespersons, medical post graduates and everyone else who is not a nurse can be nil to none. Physicians (surgeons and anesthesiologists) seem to roll their eyes and demand to see some hard detailed factual base evidence otherwise tell the nurse and her clipboard to take a hike....

In short any nurse prepared to tell a doctor with his gorilla chest hair exposed needs to also be equally prepared for his reaction.

elkpark · Sep 2, 2014

I just read the article about pant suits, and what was the point of wearing hosiery under the pants??

When I worked floors in "whites," I always worn support pantyhose under my uniform pants, for the support. It really makes a difference (to your feet and legs) by the end of a shift.

DogWmn · Sep 2, 2014

Class of '72 and proud member of the crusty old bat club!

OCNRN63, RN · Sep 2, 2014

Class of '72 and proud member of the crusty old bat club!

Put it on your information line, Woman!

HazelLPN, LPN · Sep 2, 2014

The old diploma schools were something special. You were proud of where you trained, because they weren't easy, despite what modern nursing faculty may say about them who never trained in these facilities. It was a proud day when you earned your stripes on your student cap, and a very proud day when you earned your graduate cap.

Nursing students are now taught that the cap is sexist, a symbol of servitude, degrading, or worse.....carries germs. They are none of the above. The cap is a symbol of how hard you had to work, and that you survived some very difficult training. Each school had their own design of nursing cap and it was nice to see the different schools represented on the units, and you were happy to represent your school.

I know nurses who don't even wear their pin and say "oh, that's too old fashioned!" Maybe the pin will disappear next.

I don't think we should return to caps, as they don't mean anything to young people coming out of schools these days. Fewer and fewer new grads even get a cap as many universities have done away with them. Its nice to see posters who have an interest in them, or even respect those of us who still wear them.

I was the last nurse in my unit to wear my cap in the hospital and am now the only school nurse who wears it. Say what you want about the cap, but I get "yes m'ame, no m'ame" from students who don't even know me. One young man asked me "Oh are you the head nurse for all the schools"?

Even years after the cap has gone out of fashion, and very few of us still wear then, it still commands respect if worn with the same pride as the day you earned it.

Columnist · Sep 5, 2014

I just now stumbled upon this thread. I must say that some of these posts are cracking me up! LOLOLOLOL

Perineal fallout. :roflmao:

I started out as a nurse "back in the day" when dresses were the only option..... for awhile anyway. yes....I wore the white hose, white shoes......and most importantly THE CAP. I was so glad when we were permitted to wear pants.........even if they were still white.

OK.....carry on with the memories. I am enjoying this.