Folding the Cap

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2008

I miss the cap too. I never wore one but I still miss it. One was handed to me on my graduation which I promptly filed away on a remote closet shelf to collect dust. One thing's for sure though, I wouldn't want to have to fold one.

Thank you for sharing this nostalgic story.

nyapa, RN · Mar 21, 2008

Caps were definitely out by the time I started. But they were in when hubby started nursing in the late 70s. Can you imagine it? Nahh, he didn't have to wear one LOL

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Mar 21, 2008

Thanks for the memories Penny!

I know those Presbyterian caps well as worked with many of their nurses. Never forgot the time pt yelled at me he didn't want a Presby nurse but wanted one from Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH) "the one with lots of pleats" taking care of him.

Thankfuly both LPN and RN cap only had one fold, plastic button to hold all together and I had fine collection of white bobby pins. Last wore my cap in 2005 for Nurse Week celebration.....time to dig it out again for this year. That year, one of my staff received award for 50 years as RN ---she was a PGH grad from 1955.

elkpark · Mar 21, 2008

I miss caps, too.

When I was in school in the early '80s, there was one little old lady who made all the school's caps by hand (there were many folds and pleats involved, held together with a few simple running stitches). Since the school and hospital required caps, and the hospital had many, many graduates of the school who still worked there, there was a lot of demand for caps.

A few years after I graduated, she finally retired or died (I don't really know which), and the school switched over to caps that were the same design, but machine-made somehow. They were not nearly as nice as the handmade ones, and I'm v. happy that I still have one of the "little old lady" caps.

MEME123 · Mar 21, 2008

That was sweet. Boy it brings back memories. :nurse:

Remember working with them. Sweat pouring, getting tangled in curtains, losing pins. Mine looked like something from the flying nun. Too big. No excuses back then, it better be on and pearly white and starched to boot. I remember days getting yelled at because I was running around with the cap half hanging off my head. The case that you just had to have to place it in and carry with you, when not on the wards. Sorry I did not keep it in a way. Brings back memories. Thanks for the post.

redknight · Mar 21, 2008

My wife use t wear one in the early days.She has several times wished that she kept one. Tell me can they still be gotten? and if so where?

HM2VikingRN, RN · Mar 21, 2008

Capping used to be a ceremony just as pinning is today. I vaguely remember my mother preparing for capping ceremonies for her LPN students in the early 70's.

I had her pin me on 12/13/2007 at my pinning ceremony. It was a surprise christmas present for her....

pugmomrn · Mar 21, 2008

My capping ceremony in 1990 was me walking into the Dean's office, asking for a cap. She dug through a big cupboard and handed me the flattened parts and said "You know what this is supposed to look like??"

Just for my mom, I put that cap on and had a portrait taken of me in my whites-- that's the senior portrait that she still has hanging on her wall!!

(never wore that cap since!!)

YellowFinchFan · Mar 21, 2008

Very nice post...only wore a cap at my graduation - it's in my closet - I'm sure it's a mass made one (not handmade)

I cherish my nursing pin though and sometimes wear it....I worked so hard to get it!

:nurse:

Faeriewand, ASN, RN · Mar 21, 2008

I got a cap at my capping ceremony (LVN) and a pin of a cap. That was after 1st semester. Then got a pin upon graduation. We never wore them in clinicals but were expected to keep our caps and wear them during our graduation ceremony. :) But I did take an NCLEX class where some of the students were from Los Angeles and they had to wear their nursing caps to all clinicals.

chocokitten · Mar 21, 2008

I graduated last year and the only contact I have ever had with a nursing cap was on our senior picture day. They had a single hat available that we could use in our pictures. When we discussed nursing caps in school most of the teachers were of the opinion that the cap was outdated, a source of infection (because it could and did fall off and was unnecessary), and a symbol of discrimination (because men don't wear them, and what about female nurses with no hair or fine hair?).

I had a nursing instructor that had very fine hair and attended a catholic nursing school. She said her hat was constantly slipping off or tilting. The nuns used to scold her and make her write 10 page essays on the importance of keeping her hat on straight :uhoh3:

Call me a newbie, but I'm glad we don't have nursing caps. I would never wear one >_>