When did you last see a nurse wearing the old school garb?

[DesiDani]

Cap, white stockings, and all. Do you have one?

[SilleLu]

My mom going to work, probably 35 years ago...I wore her cap for my pictures. It was a big deal when she switched from the white dress to white slacks.

[fawnmarie, ASN]

I was at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago and saw a nurse shopping. She was wearing a white dress, blue cape, white cap, white stockings and white shoes. Her hair was in a low bun and she looked like she had fallen out of a 1945 Cherry Ames book! Her cape was studded with little pins. She was certainly turning heads as she navigated the store aisles! She had her name badge on, but I wasn't able to see the name of her facility. At the time, I was working as a psych nurse and had on jeans and a sweatshirt! She looked very proud and seemed to be enjoying the attention she was receiving in her traditional nurse's uniform!

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

There was a nurse dressed in head to toe white and wore the cap at the hospital where I went to school (graduated last May). There was also a nurse on the ward opposite where I work now and she wore her whites, stockings and cap. I always thought she looked very professional compared to my jumping unicorns.

[Hygiene Queen]

NurseCard said:

A couple of years prior to THAT, worked with a nurse who always wore a nurse's cap. She wore it because "I earned it".

When I finally received my cap, it was so amazing to me. I took that baby into my hands and just stared at it in disbelief. My eyes popped out of my head and almost fell over. I was being both mildly silly and drop dead serious when I told my classmates, "That is the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen!"

We voted on whether we were going to have caps or not. You bet your peaches I voted the cap. I would have been terribly disappointed had we not.

I remember being an aide when we all wore the white uniforms. I actually found an image of my first uniform:

The aides dressed the same as the nurses, but no cap, of course. We tried to wear navy sweaters, but we were told to knock it off, because navy was only for the nurses... but we did it anyway and, eventually, they gave up

[AllOfMyWat]

2015. I had an older coworker who wore that.

[Julius Seizure]

One girl that I work with (in her 30s) wears a scrub dress and stockings about once a year, just for fun. I've never seen someone wear the "old garb" non-ironically, but then again I've 'only' been a nurse during this millennium :)

[Hygiene Queen]

Nurse Rached

Why yoooooooou, I oughtta...

Nurse Ratched was brought up, especially since they know I'm also a psych nurse.

[Hygiene Queen]

Are we coworkers? And yeah. I always take wearing it seriously. I'm chuffed at the attention I get, because it is fun and I love paying homage . But call it a costume, belying the reverence I hold for it, and I'll be quite cross.

Yes. That's the struggle. I have a lot of respect for it and it's not a "costume". Unfortunately, Halloween is the only time I can wear it. I wear it properly.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

I saw someone the other day walking to work, she has always worn her whites since she became an RN about 15 years ago.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

During my CNA clinicals and first LTC jobs, all of the nurses wore white. This was in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Of those, one younger (early 30s maybe?) RN wore the dress and hose; and an older (nearing retirement) one still wore her white dress/hose and cap.

One med-surg RN where I worked as a CNA would sometimes wear a colored top but always wore white pants and jacket. She just felt strongly about wearing white since it was traditionally associated with nursing.

We wore whites to our pinning ceremony in 2003, and one girl decided she wanted to look nice since it was a big deal so bought a white nursing dress. She did look really pretty! :)

[Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN]

This isn't the same thing, but ...

I worked at a hospital where all nurse staff had to wear all white (I wore Dansko's, but some would wear athletic shoes & maybe they could slip by, but no colors on them). I was a traveller and thought "what fresh hell is this?" — but, by the end of my journey there I actually kinda liked the dress code ((yes, my blood and guts ER nurse liked the white — I even had a couple cute white scrub dresses & I'd wear sheer white support hose — big deal! But, in fairness I always liked colored, cute scrub dresses and support hose can be your friends, so no prob on those. I also believed in pressing scrubs, t-shirts and even flight suits if they needed it. No need to look rumpled regardless, pride in your appearance does matter!!)) -and- even if I hadn't liked them, white uniforms were so far down on my list of reasons to "run" out of there ASAP, it was meaningless.

But, make no mistake if anyone what seen me leaving my last day at that facility, they would have been convinced I was trying to outrun the proverbial bomb squad. Never have I wanted out of somewhere so badly in my life.

But, it's been around early 2000's since I last witnessed the a nurse in the full measure (with sweater/cape) and I was just awe struck. Pure goddess of healing, I tell ya!

:angel:

[Glycerine82, LPN]

Every May for nurses' day ..

The cap is mine. The Cape vintage.

Yay! I was hoping you'd post this!! Loved seeing you wearing this xoxo