when did they stop wearing those cute nurses caps?

[johnnyDoGood]

those used to be really cute. when did they stop making those a requirement?

[NurseNinaFla]

Seems as though here in Fla it was around the late 80's to early 90's in some places,when I left Med/Surg in 90" they were still wearing them and wore them at the LTC until about 91-92"

[RNperdiem, RN]

My class wore caps long after caps disappeared from practice in the mid 90's.

I looked cute in my cap, but I don't miss it.

[nursel56]

I believe that by 1980 it was about 50-50 dwindling down to what it is today. What I thought was fun was when all the nurse's wore caps-- You knew what school they had gone to. I liked to memorize that. The round, semi-flat ones that looked like a giant pill with a black ribbon over tucks of white all the way around were quite intriguing.

Ohh, and not all the caps were cute! Ours was God-awful. Oh, and JohnnyDoGood, kudos for calling it a "cap", and not a "hat"

[aura_of_laura]

Just because a hospital's dress code does not mandate caps, that does not mean a nurse cannot wear one, if she chooses... Though some modern DONs (or vice-president, chief nursing officer as they are now called), might not be thrilled.

We had one nurse who insisted on wearing her nursing cap (to remind us of "how a nurse is supposed to dress"), and the medical director firmly requested she stop as it was a distraction to the patients and was unprofessional.

[BluegrassRN]

I remember you, OP!!

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/will-i-get-344750.html

https://allnurses.com/distance-learning-nursing/out-work-all-345404.html

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

When I graduated from nursing school, in the 80s, we had one man in our class. We tried to get a nurse's cap for HIM, but they weren't sold any longer, so he was able to escape that experience!

I think it was interesting that each school had their own style of cap. That way you could tell who graduated from the same school you went to. Some were cute, some were kind of silly. I remember one lady who wore what looked like an upside down cupcake paper on her head. I remember my mother in law's caps. She had to bleach and starch them between wearings and had a little plastic container she put them in, to take them to and from work. Ahhh, history....

[guest2210]

We had a sweet capping ceremony half way through school. In 1982 when I graduated, I had to wear mine at my first job in a nursing home. A few year later, when hired by the hospital I trained in, I found some still wearing theirs, but very cumbersome, hitting drapes and generally getting in the way. I still have mine but am glad we no longer have to wear them.

[caliotter3]

I remember you, OP!!

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/will-i-get-344750.html

https://allnurses.com/distance-learning-nursing/out-work-all-345404.html

In spite of the OP, this is still an interesting topic.

[melanie303]

Hey, in my early nursing days we wore the starched white uniform dresses, white hose, the infamous cap and white clinic shoes that when you walked, it was clickity clack up and down the hallways. We also collected all the "old metal" bedpans at night and washed each one in the dirty utility room WITHOUT gloves. At that time, disease and gloves weren't a big thing to fear. Now this is old school!!!!!!!!!!

[RNforLongTime]

I started nursing school in the early 90's and we didn't have caps then either. When I went to university to complete my schooling..they had abolished the caps a few years before. I bought my own cap just so I could have one.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Come on girls, fess up! You all know you want to report tomorrow dressed like this:

Or this:

[aura_of_laura]

Now capes are another story! I never forget my nursing cape - it makes me feel like a superhero as I chase the doctor down the hall with an armload of charts, and I can pull it in front of my face, Dracula-style, when I need to strike fear into the hearts of wayward students and employees.