Nursing caps

WideOpenHeart · May 12, 2013

Hi... I wish nurses still wore caps.

I think the stripes mean something... and then ruffles also mean something.

I'm sure someone who knows will drop in soon, but I just wanted to say I think caps are looooverrrrly.....

RLtinker, LPN · May 12, 2013

I maybe wrong, but as I understand it had a lot do with the school you went too. The color stripes would be exchanged for a black stripe at graduation.

stephanie. · May 12, 2013

This may help.

http://www.lifebridgeblogs.org/2012/05/08/the-history-of-the-nurses-cap/

amoLucia · May 12, 2013

Oh my, be still my heart ... a student who likes caps!!! I thought you were all extinct like all us senior nurses who are still fond of our caps!

Suggestion - check within your program. Unless you're a relatively NEW program, your school should be able to guide you to the style that was part of your program. Get their take on their traditional cap. Each school had its own cap design. You might be able to check out old yearbooks to look at SON graduation ceremonies if you go back that far.

There were a few generic caps you could pick up in uniform shops back in the old days. And there's Kay's Caps, on line, who's a major supplier of caps today. I think if you tell them your school, they might be able to research its style and offer it (or something similar).

You wore your own cap style ONLY - you would NEVER EVER wear another school's cap style even if you did admire another one (and I really did like several other cap styles). That's one MAJOR rule of cap etiquette.

Stripes are also specific to your school's cap. My ASN cap had a thin dark forest green stripe that rimmed its dome and it was different from my student cap. My student cap received a stripe between 1st and 2nd years. And I have a generic cap that I did varying things with the stripes when I wore it. That's another MAJOR rule of cap etiquette - you don't alter your school cap.

Just to tell you, there are numerous posts here on AN that talk about caps and capping ceremonies. Fun and very interesting to read, very informative too as they have other Web addresses to check out. I may not wear my caps anymore, but I will never throw them out (and I do try them back on every now & then).

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 12, 2013

I still have mine....caps are specific to your school check with your program.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 12, 2013

I maybe wrong, but as I understand it had a lot do with the school you went too. The color stripes would be exchanged for a black stripe at graduation.

Around here RNs wore black stripes and LPNs wore colored ones.

But I went to a four-year BSN program, and our student caps had no stripes at all, and at graduation we got red ones!

The diploma school hospital where I worked as an aide while I was in college had plain white caps for first years, one narrow brown stripe for second years, and two narrow brown stripes for third years, and a 1" black stripe for grads.

I guess the answer is, "Whatever you want," as long as you get a generic cap and don't wear one that's recognizably unique to another school.

SunshineDaisy, ASN, RN · May 12, 2013

Thanks for the answers! I will check out Kays caps and see what they have!

mclennan, BSN, RN · May 12, 2013

I love nursing caps and wish we could bring them back. There is NOTHING to distinguish us for our education and hard work any more in any dignified, unique way. Now everyone wears the same stupid, unflattering pajamas and you can't tell nurses, MAs, aides or housekeeping apart.

I'm not a fan of the huge, elaborate caps, but a low-profile, simple one would be great. Patients would love it. It would make us stand out. It would be a dignified, familiar way to distinguish us nurses from other staff. If infection control is a concern, then issue disposable ones. Don't be ashamed to like nursing caps. I'm only 39 and been a nurse for 6 years, and I never got one! I say let's bring em back!!!

amoLucia · May 13, 2013

To McLennan - I agree 110% with your first paragraph. But... caps were individualized as they were intended to proudly represent each individual school's graduates. Every cap is different and that contributes to the rich diversity of nursing. We all went to different schools and thus we should all have different caps, be they big or little, fluffy or rigid, plain or fancy, with or without stripes (black, green, red or whatever) etc. Even the military had its own caps.

Wearing a generic cap as you describe would be just so disappointing to me. You make them sound like the visors that fast-food employees at McD or BK wear. Back in the days of traditional whites/caps, different caps were a source of interest among us staff and pts, esp a very unusual out-of-towner's cap. I want choice - give me my school's individual cap. A generic cap could be a choice for those who so wish.

Problem with a return to caps is that an upgrading of work attire might be needed by some who might protest.

And I think that infection control issue was the other way around - caps were meant to protect the NURSES from yucky pts and unsanitary environments. That's also why nurses used to wear the aprons. Caps did yellow and they could be difficult to clean, esp the fluffy, pleated ones. But somehow, those nurses knew how to do it (I read some history where some schools actually had professional laundries do their caps!)

Viva la cap!

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 13, 2013

To McLennan - I agree 110% with your first paragraph. But... caps were individualized as they were intended to proudly represent each individual school's graduates. Every cap is different and that contributes to the rich diversity of nursing. We all went to different schools and thus we should all have different caps, be they big or little, fluffy or rigid, plain or fancy, with or without stripes (black, green, red or whatever) etc. Even the military had its own caps.

One Halloween I wore mine to work in the big hospital on the other side of the country from my school. I was walking down the hall and I hear this booming voice call out, "Hey, ABC U!" I look around and say, "Who the heck recognizes an ABC University School of Nursing cap out here?" Turns out the vascular fellow and his DDS/MD orofacial surg buddy went to undergrad, med school, and residency in my home city and knew it quite well from their years in all the city hospitals. It was sweet.

HazelLPN, LPN · May 28, 2013

I STILL wear my cap whenever I work. Not my original cap that I got at my graduation, mind you, that was retired years ago and is proudly on display in my shadow box. I get my new caps from Kays Caps. They can recreate any cap from just about any nursing school, including my long extinct hospital based diploma school. The stripes are not universal. When I trained, the student cap was different than the graduate cap. When you finished your first year, you got a single gold stripe on your student cap. Students who were going on for their RN and went another year received an additional gold stripe. Graduate PNs received the graduate cap and no black stripe while RNs had two black stripes in place of the gold ones on the graduate cap.

I understand that caps are not for everyone, especially since we now have to many young men going into nursing. However, I wish they were an option to anyone who wishes to wear them. For me, it is a symbol of my training. Like so many university students wear their colors proudly, so do I wear my cap. When I started in nursing, you knew where everyone trained from the unique design of her cap. These days, its hard to tell who the nurses are as everyone wears scrubs. At least when we wore caps, there was no question what so ever.

Young people are given much misinformation about the cap. How its is like a maid's cap and degrading to women. How they carry "germs" more than any other part of the uniform, and how they sexualize nurses. They are none of the above, and I am what researchers call a "primary source." They were meant to be early infection control during the Crimean war. When we earned our strip or our graduate cap, it was such an honor and we wore it with pride. As long as I am active in nursing, I will continue to wear my cap with the same pride as the day I EARNED the right to wear it.