Nursing caps required at your job?

[Blackcat99]

Are there still places that require nurses to wear nursing caps while they are at work? When I use to live in Wheeling,West Virginia I was told that nurses at the nursing home were required to wear nursing caps while working.

Wearing those caps in "the old days" gave me headaches. Do other states require that nursing caps be worn? Which states? Thanks

[Flightline, BSN, RN]

I like the traditional male uniform with the zip up shirt. That's what I wore in nursing school, but now I go for the scrubs and I tuck the shirt in. It seems to go better with the ICU image. And if you don't keep the traditional uniform ironed, it looks like crap.

[Flightline, BSN, RN]

Nursing has changed a great deal.

I remember an older nurse shareing these experiences with me.

I nurse had to stand when a doctor entered the room

The nurse did not speak to a doctor unless spoken to

A nurse wore all white, cap, hose, dress and no pants. And she wore a slip.

The nurses made the doctors breakfast in the morning and served it

The bedpan was silver metal and carried down the hall with a towel over it to be cleaned by the nurse in a special room

There were only a few blood pressure machines in on the floor and it was wheeled to the patients room

The beds had to be made so they looked the best from the door

All the food was made homemade in the hospital

All the laundry was washed in the hospital

There was no air conditioning and nurses had to bring an extra uniform to change to mid-day from the heat

This was really not that long ago.

Nursing has changed so very much:nurse:

Wow! As a modern male nurse, I've never understood the servility of nurses to MDs, but I guess it wasn't that long ago when females, in general felt servile to males. Now we have women's rights--which I support more than most women I know--and a whole lot of Media. Go figure. Some things never change.:icon_roll

[Dinsey]

My mom became a nurse in the early 70s and quickly ditched the cap because she couldn't keep it on and it was in the way. The dress soon followed after an incident involving body fluids (of a patient) that she doesn't like to talk about.

I can't imagine wearing a dress or skirt to work. Just knowing what's on my pants when I come home?

[tanthalas]

In Thailand nurses still wear the nursing caps. I think it's quite attractive

[DoeRN]

My hair is too big for a nursing cap. It would get lost in my hair.

[MayBoo]

You also had to keep your hair completely off your collar. No pony tails.

No fancy make-up, or lip stick

No scrubs, unless you worked in the OR

Only nursing shoes, no tennis shoes, clogs, or sport shoes

[karmil]

Trivia: My daughter lives in South Africa and tells me the Nurses (called "Sisters") still wear white uniforms and caps. They work hard to become nurses, but I think they might be a combo maid/aide. Does anyone know for sure? My other RN daughter thought about living there....but does NOT want to be a glorified maid/aide in white! She was just thrilled with her new BLUE NICU FLIGHT SUIT she has to wear when transporting. Now THAT takes a good figure!!! Her "cap" is a helmet! :)

[queenjean]

I've never seen a nurse in a cap, I've never owned one, I had one on my head for 10 seconds while my pic was taken once, and I would laugh my a$$ off at any nurse I saw in a cap. Just like I would laugh my a$$ off at any doc who asked me for my chair, or told me to go make him coffee.

Yeah, the good old days, with the segregated wards, the subservient women nurses, the doc-konws-best attitude, the patient and family unfriendly facilities; yeah, those were good times, good times. Not.

[Ms. Nurse Assistant, LPN]

Why did nurses stop wearing the cap, the white dress uniform, and shoes?

[lovehospital]

Why did nurses stop wearing the cap, the white dress uniform, and shoes?

All I got to say is thank GOD,you dont want to wear those white hats do you?

[Ms. Nurse Assistant, LPN]

All I got to say is thank GOD,you dont want to wear those white hats do you?

lol Yes, I am. The only time you see the old fashioned nurse outfit is in a sex shop or when women are role playing as a 'sexy' nurse on tv

[jallen5]

When I announced that I was going to become a nurse, my mother-in-law was immediately captured by the idea of me in a "little white dress with the little white hat and the little white stockings." I tried to explain that no one really wears that outfit anymore, and she has been in enough hospitals and medical offices to know that, but she still brings it up all the time. It makes her so happy to think of it. I never gave much thought to how the uniform for nurses has changed over the years until she brought that up. When my daughter was getting some tests done at the children's hospital, all the nurses wore completely different scrubs and outfits, and you would never know by looking that they were all part of the same group. It looked unproffessional, but they were all so happy in their jobs that I wondered if their comfort played a role in their job satisfaction. Interesting to say the least. I'm SO glad I won't really be wearing the skirt, hat and stockings. Sheesh!