Was just wondering,,,,,how many nurses still wear their caps? I work with a very dedicated, yet at times anal nurse, and even though we work in a very small LTC facility, she still wears her nursing cap. I would love to wear mine, but they catch on curtains, fall off at the worst times. During nursing school, we were required to wear it at all times. Even bought one of those clear plastic carrying case so everyone could see I was a nurse. I feel that since nurses have went to multi colored scrubs, no more whites, no more caps, no more pins,,,,we have lost the respect of those. Yet, on some sitcomes, it portrays nurses in white as buxom, ditzy miniskirt wearing females. What do you all think????????
so, do you want to know the low down on nurses and the nursing cap controversy??? at least the way i heard it!
i heard that back in the mid-70's, a time of major social upheaval and the push for equal rights for men and women the nursing cap issue came to it's final stand and ultimate death. the story goes something like this; a male nurse at a large hospital in chicago was not required to wear a nursing cap, for obvious reasons, but a female nurse who was required to wear her cap, took offense and ultimately a stand. she said if it's ok for him not to wear his cap then it has to be ok for her to not wear a cap. so, based on equality in the work place it became accepted practice that a nurse may or may not wear their nursing cap as a personal decision.
so, if you'd like to wear one, feel free. as far as it getting caught on everything when you are taking care of patients, it isn't really that bad. before all the hoopla all nurses wore their cap unless they worked in the er or icu settings, those settings made wearing a cap very difficult.
so, welcome to the 21st century and make your own stand!!! wear a cap if you'd like or don't if you don't like. = )
My first job as a CNA (mid 80's) was in an "old school" type nursing home where the DON was in her 60's and the Assistant DON also in her 60's so they were new nurses in the mid 40's. Anyway, in this LTC, EVERYONE on the nursing staff wore white. White pants/skirts, white tops, white or navy blue cardigan, white shoes, white hose! And the nurses wore their caps, and were never refered to by their first names! It was Miss Smith or Mrs Jones..however, we (the CNA;s) were called by our first names. I loved that place! I left when I went to school in the early 90's and they STILL were wearing the head to toe white AND CAPS! (AND you could tell if the nurse were an RN or LPN by the stripe(s) on her cap. Of course now I cannot remember if the run had one stripe or two.
I miss seeing a nurse in all white with the caps. Although I hated being in all white! Its tough now, you don't know if you are talking with an aide, a nurse, housekeeping, dietary..at least with the caps you KNEW you were speaking with a real nurse!
If i ever seen anyone wearing one, I would think that they are one of those nurses who have difficulty with change. "well we have always done it this way" well guess what, times change, procedures change, traditions change. They are the ones that have difficulty with anything thats different. I remember working on one unit recently and I hated how they made the bed. The would always put a flannel sheet under the patient. Now most of the patients in the CCU were ambulating, but occasionally there were vented, unresponsive patients. Talk about a pain in the butt trying to boost the patints. The patients stuck to the flanel. When I asked the older nurses why they insisted on doing the bed like this, they couldnt give me a good reason why, and im sure it was mainly because thats how they did it on this unit for the past 20 years.
I think its quite silly to wear those hats. Also the fact that they are a bacterias dream home!
I have one that looks like batting fabric in coat lining. I was always jelous of Miami of Ohio's caps and Navy nurses caps. They always looked so nice. I'm not sure where my cap is at this point. They were a pain to wear. Always catching on things, pain to keep stiff and clean. But, they were a way to define nurses. I think nurses should be defined = not by caps per say but white, lab coats with names embossed on etc... It always amazes me how nurses come to work. Soooo wrinkeled and messed. I also love to look at old pictures of nurses in the 18oo's. The history is so interesting. Nurses in Scotland had large caps that looked like the flying nun.
If i ever seen anyone wearing one, I would think that they are one of those nurses who have difficulty with change. "well we have always done it this way" well guess what, times change, procedures change, traditions change. They are the ones that have difficulty with anything thats different. I remember working on one unit recently and I hated how they made the bed. The would always put a flannel sheet under the patient. Now most of the patients in the CCU were ambulating, but occasionally there were vented, unresponsive patients. Talk about a pain in the butt trying to boost the patints. The patients stuck to the flanel. When I asked the older nurses why they insisted on doing the bed like this, they couldnt give me a good reason why, and im sure it was mainly because thats how they did it on this unit for the past 20 years.
I think its quite silly to wear those hats. Also the fact that they are a bacterias dream home!
And then you would be unfairly judging someone based on that person wearing a cap. Nice.
Yet another slam at older nurses. It gets tiresome.
I must admit that in PN school I was excited to learn that we did not have to wear hats. The white uniforms were pretty at first but eventually you end up with stains from unknown origins that just won't come out and like other white articles of clothing, start greying out after washing the same 3 uniforms for a year.
I'm finishing my last prereq for the LPN to RN transition program at a local college. I love the maroon uniforms. (I think a white lab coat)...and no hat...
I work at a LTC that enforces white uniforms, caps etc. We all look dingy and the whites are not opaque, so your underclothes always show. God help you if you're a woman and you're at that time of the month. The caps cause balding from the pins we have to use to keep them on, they cause headaches, and with oral, nasal, and lung colonized MRSA EVERYWHERE, you wonder if you're dragging infection from patient to patient. The whole situation just STINKS.
I've worked in psych most of my career and so have mostly worn street clothes -- but, when I'm in a "uniform" situation, I wear real "whites" (not scrubs) and my cap.
The hospital in which my diploma school was based required caps into the mid-'80s (they only made them optional when a group of nurses working there threatened a class action lawsuit, which the board of trustees realized they'd lose).
Specializes in ICU, CCU,Wound Care,LTC, Hospice, MDS.
I must admit that in PN school I was excited to learn that we did not have to wear hats. The white uniforms were pretty at first but eventually you end up with stains from unknown origins that just won't come out and like other white articles of clothing, start greying out after washing the same 3 uniforms for a year.
I was required to wear white for many years and never had a problem with stains or dinginess. Pre-treating and washing whites only work wonders!
so funny that i would come across this tonight. i just read a nursing article about physician/nurse relations that started with an anecdote about a nursing professor addressing her new students. she described the nursing cap as one that marked knowledge, professionalism, and subservience to the knowledge and wisdom of doctors... and then she said "that is why we no longer use them". i never thought of them that way, but now i look back and think they could be construed as such. hats/caps/hairnets are a way of pulling back hair, implying less cleanliness, or at least a way to provide more cleanliness. i applaud the lack of caps in use--they are bothersome and symbolic at this point, and possible agents of disease transmission. good riddance.
I have one that looks like batting fabric in coat lining. I was always jelous of Miami of Ohio's caps and Navy nurses caps. They always looked so nice. I'm not sure where my cap is at this point. They were a pain to wear. Always catching on things, pain to keep stiff and clean. But, they were a way to define nurses. I think nurses should be defined = not by caps per say but white, lab coats with names embossed on etc... It always amazes me how nurses come to work. Soooo wrinkeled and messed. I also love to look at old pictures of nurses in the 18oo's. The history is so interesting. Nurses in Scotland had large caps that looked like the flying nun.
spydercadet
89 Posts
so, do you want to know the low down on nurses and the nursing cap controversy??? at least the way i heard it!
i heard that back in the mid-70's, a time of major social upheaval and the push for equal rights for men and women the nursing cap issue came to it's final stand and ultimate death. the story goes something like this; a male nurse at a large hospital in chicago was not required to wear a nursing cap, for obvious reasons, but a female nurse who was required to wear her cap, took offense and ultimately a stand. she said if it's ok for him not to wear his cap then it has to be ok for her to not wear a cap. so, based on equality in the work place it became accepted practice that a nurse may or may not wear their nursing cap as a personal decision.
so, if you'd like to wear one, feel free. as far as it getting caught on everything when you are taking care of patients, it isn't really that bad. before all the hoopla all nurses wore their cap unless they worked in the er or icu settings, those settings made wearing a cap very difficult.
so, welcome to the 21st century and make your own stand!!! wear a cap if you'd like or don't if you don't like. = )