Nursing hat with ruffles required?

[Suninmyheart]

Literally - a round hat with ruffles all the way around and surrounded by a ribbon with a bow. Like I would imagine Florence N. to wear.

Has anyone ever seen this or work where it is required?

I was offered the job but am literally turning it down because of this.

It feels demeaning and ridiculous. How can I be taken seriously wearing this thing. No way! When I walked in for my interview I saw these hats and I just couldn't believe it.

Comments?

Sun

[Katnip, RN]

I didn't get a cap on graduation. My school stopped it in the '80s when the manufacturer stopped making them because they need special machines. That and it required a special iron after washing them to put them back together. Apparently it would take hours to take apart, wash and use the fluting iron.

It was an original Florence design without the ribbons. I can't remember if the ribbons tied under the chin or hung down the back. They were made from a very delicate dotted fabric and were called "flossies." The school eventually said those would be ceremonial and they made the same design from a more sturdy material for everyday wear.

[PRESLA]

]:angryfire Guys never had to were caps (not hats got chewed a new one in school when I called it a hat). I know of only one nsg home that requires the nurses to were caps. One reason why I would not work there. Caps get so nasty and yellow come into the modern age. Hated my cap in school sure as H*** not going to were one where I work!!

Lisa:trout:

[littleRNthatcould]

Years ago, I didn't mind wearing my cap at all! I do think it separated the nurses from other hospital personnel. I used to work with a nurse from Johns Hopkins and that was their cap at that time. I think that when nurses stopped wearing caps, something was lost in the profession. Just my opinion... Nowadays, patients don't know a nurse from lab personnel, nursing assistants, respiratory techs. or anybody else.

ebear

Which is the reason for introducing yourself and your title when you enter the room!:wink2:

[PRESLA]

] I agree it is hard to tell who is who and this does made me me upset. It would be nice if facilities would require all staff to wear a different color uniform to distinguish who was who. When staff introduces let pt and family know who and what you are and have a eraser board in room so you can write your name and title on it for the pt. Times are changing and so are titles which is very confusing to many pts. Food for thought.

Lisa

[RN1989]

Although I don't think wearing a cap every day is feasible, and I do wear scrubs versus a "uniform", but I think that a cap adds something to the appearance. Yes, I believe that how you conduct yourself has much to do with whether or not people see you as a professional. But the fact remains - people associate nurses with whites and caps. I've been to nursing rallies and worn my whites and my cap - as requested by the organizers of the rallies - so that we were IMMEDIATELY identified as nurses and did not look like joe-blow marching through the streets with signs. When I've worn my whites and my cap, I have received much more respectful treatment from the public at large than when I was wearing my cute working scrubs - and I never said a word to say "Yoo-hoo, I'm a nurse". People just KNEW I was a nurse and automatically treated me differently. Most people expect a "uniform" of some kind. Don't you expect police officers to wear uniforms? And aren't most of those uniforms fairly standard? You know, without being told, that a person is a police officer by the uniform. Same with nurses.

Men at my school were given epaulets to wear on their shoulders in lieu of the women's caps.

Society is going to perceive you the way THEY want to. Should you receive more respect because you wear whites and a cap versus scrubs? No, but our society has a stereotype of nurses in whites/caps just as they do with docs in white coats. Studies have shown that docs that wear white coats are perceived by the public as more intelligent and they are more willing to follow the suggestions/instructions of someone in a white coat than they are someone not in a white coat. Thus, nurse's whites and caps are viewed as more more professional in society at large.

You don't have to wear them anymore if you don't want to. Perhaps those people who have such strong aversions to whites/caps do not view nursing in the same way as the people who can see the history and nostalgia of the universal symbol of our profession. I am proud of my cap and will wear it as needed to show support of my profession. I don't wear it for emptying foleys anymore (pokes you in the head when you get too close to the bed). But I will proudly wear my cap on special occasions as a reminder to the public that I am a well educated professional worthy of the respect that they reserve for white-coated doctors. Especially if the occasion is meant to honor, promote, and show solidarity for nursing.

For those interested, Kay's Caps in NY has the patterns for thousands of styles of caps - even ones that are historic and no longer made. They keep some made up in stock but can also make special orders for you.

[MB37]

I didn't know what a "cap" was until I discovered allnurses and started reading these argumentative threads. I was a pre-nursing student at the time. Some generations associate nurses with the white dress and cap uniform, whereas my generation associates them with scrubs. Now, I used to think every dietary and housekeeping staffperson who got on the bus in scrubs at the stop by the hospital was a nurse, and now I am aware that a lot of non-nurses wear scrubs too, but I have still never seen an actual human being wearing a nursing cap in real life (outside of pictures, movies, etc.). Now I'm in my first semester of clinicals, and I haven't seen a nurse in a dress/skirt yet. Everyone identifies themself each time they enter a patient's room, and we write on the white boards who the RN, student, and CNA/PCT are each day (there don't seem to be any LPNs on the floor I'm assigned to, at least not on the day I'm there). Patients occasionally ask me if I'm their nurse, but I just smile, tell them I'm just a student, and either asnwer their question or relay it to the RN.

[bigsyis]

My first 3-11 Supervisor always wore her cap like the one you describe. She was a cracker jack nurse!

As another poster mentioned, caps were of different styles from different Nursing Schools. You could usually identify the school a person graduated from once you had seen one. It was a very proud tradition.

[ebear, BSN, RN]

Some of my experiences with caps:

I worked with a nurse from UCLA whose cap was 4-cornered (like a college graduation cap) and had a blue/gold tassel (very short) at the top!

I worked with a nurse in Pittsburgh who had a HUGE 5 inch long hat pin in the back of her cap. It came in handy for her in the parking deck, when she used it in self-defense while being attacked!

Several nurses used to store an ampule of ammonia in the fold of their caps to use if patients passed out while getting up immediately post-op! HaHa!

The R.N. cap may have had a black stripe across the top (as did mine) or the college colors of the school where they graduated. The LPN cap NEVER had the black stripe. The University of Virginia cap had a wide navy blue stripe with a smaller orange stripe inset. It was HUGE!!!

It was a very interesting day back then, but the docs could ALWAYS find a nurse! HaHaHa!! BigSyis, it was indeed a very proud tradition for nurses! While I am not advocating a return to caps, it did seem to make a big difference regarding the respect factor.

ebear

[suzanne4, RN]

When you wear a cap, it is supposed to represent where you went to school and graduated from. Each school had their own cap and you could always tell where someone graduated from back when I did my training.

However, a facility to just come up with the idea that every nurse there should wear a cap of their choosing is just wrong, it does not make anyone more professional at all.

And if you speak with any infectious disease nurse of physician, you will get very bad words about those caps. They need to be cleaned at least once a week, and you normally do not see that being done. So bugs have a tendency to grossly multiply and even infect the nurse.

You may wish to culture some of these caps to prove my point. Not good for patient care at all, especially with all of these bugs out there and super bugs as well.

[TrudyRN]

I am, apparently, one of the last nurses in the country that doesn't have a problem with caps -- I've worked in psych most of my career and have generally worn street clothes but, to this day, if I'm in a situation that calls for wearing "whites," I wear my cap.

I don't think you really have a right to get down on nurses who DO

HAVE to wear caps, since you do NOT HAVE to. I personally used to have to wear a cap, which gave me a headache every single day of my life for all the years I had to wear it, until I finally rebelled and took the damned thing off, instantly curing my headache. BTW, no one said a single word. I felt like an idiot, having worn it and suffered as long as I did.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Here's a site with some history and pictures.

http://www.civilization.ca/hist/infirm/inevo03e.html

I always wanted a cupcake cap just to add to my collection. My first one was neat, second got changed mid-year (I'd already married and moved by then) and 3rd was a generic one from the uniform store. It got lost back in the dark ages of the 80s.

There's also Kay's Caps with an online catalog.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I am, apparently, one of the last nurses in the country that doesn't have a problem with caps

I agree with you 100%, and also with Capping being one of my proudest moments. I remember a Chicago hospital with similar caps, but that was a long time ago - when nurses LOOKED like nurses!

I always wanted to be "capped."

At my school, we didn't get capped or even pinned. Our sour old instructors told us that "pinning and capping are indicitive of diploma programs. We are an academic program." (said while looking down at student with a look of disgust).

I bought a cap and vintage white nurse's dress on eBay.

I wore them to work one Halloween. I felt so great in that outfit. And... I had never been treated with so much respect and reverence. The patients kept saying things like "Wow, we have a REAL nurse today!"

It goes to show that the image of the capped nurse in white is a powerful one.

If it really came down to it, would I want to wear a cap to work? I don't know- but I can dream about it.