Old Fashioned Nurse's Cap Case

[DeniseTN]

My instructor went to nursing school in the 1960's. She still wears the traditional white uniform to clinicals. She mentioned the other day that she has been wanting a traditional carrying case for her nurse's cap. She said she had one years ago, but it disappeared. She's just using a makeshift case right now. She said that it was made of white plastic. I have Googled this like a mad woman and cannot even find a picture of one. I'd love to surprise her with one at our pinning ceremony. Does anyone know what she is talking about or where I can find one?

(This is the only cap case I can find...I'm pretty sure this isn't like the old kind though.)

[Midwest4me]

not quite!

i am getting ready to begin my last semester of an adn program and we are old school, caps and all! as first level students, our caps were all white, and now that we're second level, we have stripes added to them. they can be annoying but they're quite distinctive at the hospital and the patients love them.

wow....good for you! how interesting that there ae still schools out there that have the students dress in white and wear caps; i really loved my cap and white dress i wore for years.....

[SaraO'Hara]

They are officially extinct.

Not so. I wear a dress and cap to work on Sundays and holidays. Then again, my patients are largely geriatric, and they love it :loveya:

[wonderbee, BSN, RN]

Wow, I didn't know they were still in use anywhere considering they were proven to be germ catchers. They did set nurses apart from other workers in health care. They were (and apparently are) both a crown of honor and a symbol of female servitude. I didn't like the way they cemented the concept of nursing as female but I did like that they identified the wearer as supremely ethical and even angelic. Definitely conflicted about that one.

[SaraO'Hara]

I wash mine every time I wear it - so it can't be much more germy than my uniform...

[DoGoodThenGo]

Modern "Perma-Starch" caps such as most of those sold by Kay's Caps are far easier to care for than those of old.

Take off a any stripes/bands, wash, drip dry, touch up with iron (maybe) refold, and put back on any stripes/bands, and one is good to go.

The older caps required often required complicated starching and ironing, something beyond most homemakers today, and even local dry cleaners. There is a reason most every hospital had a "Chinese", "French" or whatever Hand laundry back in the day. It was where nurses took caps and often starched whites to be done just right. Many of the old caps required frills made with goffering irons, or other special irons no longer made.

As for student nurses wearing caps: cannot think of one school in the NYC area that still has their girls in caps,even those that still have them in uniforms. Oh wait, I tell a lie, IIRC St.Pauls Nursing School (formerly St. Vincent's School Of Nursing), on Staten Island still has the same uniform they've had for ages, including caps. Last time one was visiting someone in hospital, the students were wearing caps. Mind you they were the only nurses who were. Also (again IIRC) Beth Israel Hospital may have a capping and pinning ceremony at graduation, but do not think students wear caps.

Personally don't think any hospital in the United States could force the entire female nursing service back into caps, unless they allowed "male nurses" to wear them as well. Last time one checked federal and local labour laws as well as court rulings prevent gender specific uniforms. As for white dresses "uniforms", you can forget that as well. It is hard enough getting most young girls into dress for things such as church, and am sure there would be open rebellion if female nurses were told they could only wear uniforms with dresses, regardless of colour.