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

[DesiDani]

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

[Glycerine82, LPN]

We wear all white at my facility, it does look nice and the older folks always know I"m a nurse.

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

Yeah, I'm a 1972 diploma grad, and if I want to, I go all vintage, never had a complaint, cause "I still have game". Especially in critical care...

[pluckyduck, MSN, NP]

I remember in school during clinical an older staff nurse who wore scrub dresses, white stockings and white shoes. I thought the concept of a scrub dress was kind of neat

[greenerpastures]

Last week at work

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I have a cap, although the only time I wore it was to my pinning ceremony. I wore the white polyester dress (itchy and difficult to keep the dress under control while crawling under a bed to locate the plug, the codiene tablet I just dropped and now need to waste or the miraculous bouncing stool [another story]) white hose and white NurseMates or Famolare nursing oxfords with white ties. Those ties were impossible to keep clean! I polished my shoes and washed the laces in a lingerie bag once a week.

Last time I wore that get-up -- the polyester dresses went in 1980 or 1981 when they started making uniform skirts. I wore regular Lands' End oxford shirts with the white skirts. The white hose and oxfords continued until we won the right to wear scrubs . . . 1986 or 1987.

Last time I saw someone dressed in the whole get-up was probably 1990. One of the nursing supervisors used to dress that way. She was a real special gal -- gruff and direct, but had a heart as big as could be and everyone knew she'd defend "her" night shift nurses with everything she had. (Although if you were wrong, she'd definitely let you know about it later.)

[bevtag]

Spring, 2011. She was young and wore a cap. I liked it. It definitely set her apart. I have a cap but don't have the courage to wear it.

[traumaholic, BSN, RN]

There is a nurse from one of the hospitals that I regularly transport to and she still wear the cap, white stocking, and skirt (dress?). The skirt is in the blue color all nurses wear in that particular hospital. Shes a young nurse, too, maybe early 20s.

[KarenMS]

Because you look like a professional who takes herself seriously and needs to be taken seriously by others, not someone who came to work in her pajamas.

It's so interesting how different perceptions can be! To me, the whites look like a costume, while well fitting scrubs look like something to really get down to work in. I emphasize "well fitting," because that's key to looking like a professional to me.

[smartassmommy]

In 95 at a nursing home

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

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

One of the nurses on my unit only ever wears white stocking and the white skirt with a scrub top.

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Every May for nurses' day ..

The cap is mine. The Cape vintage.

You look great!

[RNperdiem, RN]

During nursing school clinicals in the mid 1990's we wore caps and whites.

I saw maybe 2 nurses in all of nursing school who still wore caps and white dresses.

By the 1990's, the white uniforms were starting to disappear. A lot of nurses wanted to go to scrubs, and within a few years, lots of us did. The trouble was, a lot of us didn't like the fit of the baggy unisexless top that overexposed you if you leaned forward or the poofy drawstring pants that left you shapeless.

Uniform company catalogs offered a better fit and sizing. Crazy prints ruled the day in the catalogs, but you could still find plain colors.

My hospital started a color and dress code several years ago, and I have not seen a crazy print here in years. Solid color Ciel blue is what nurses wear at my hospital.