When did nursing caps go extinct in the wild?

[RNperdiem]

I wore a cap for my first year of nursing in the mid 1990's. By then only the occasional student wore caps.

I last saw a working nurse wear a cap in 1995. She was an older lady who worked night shift on one of my clinical units.

When did you last see a nurse (not a student) wearing the cap?

[Rhi007]

Mum showed me the pics of her and my auntie in full uniform : cap, cape, dress, pantyhose etc.

[bell1962]

My "head nurse" in 1983. Never since.

[NJnewRN]

I have mine from graduation. It's very symbolic for me. I have it on my desk among my diploma and other nursing memorabilia. I never seen a nurse warring their hat excerpt on graduation day.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

There is a particular clinical instructor from one of the Catholic schools who always shows up in all whites -- skirt, panty hose, white shoes, and cap. She's also probably pushing ninety.

I work in burn and can't imagine how wearing a cap would be feasible between the myriad of dressing changes, tanks, etc. The average day shift RN might gown up to do a dressing or tank 5-6x in a shift.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

My nurse manager wore one until the early 90's...but for the nurses around 1984.

[cienurse]

I wore mine last week for Nurse's Week. I had a group picture taken with my staff as well, which came out beautifully. The residents were all so impressed by a nurse wearing her cap and said they missed those days. I had to feel bad for my new grad nurses when they told me there were no caps anymore for any of the schools. What a shame! It used to be a prestigious thing to wear a nurse' cap, now they're obsolete and only seen in pictures of days gone by. But there are still online stores where you can buy them for around $15 for purposes of pictures or to wear for Nurses' Day and special occasions.

[thekidisback]

In some other countries, nurses still wear the cap. I know in the Philippines last time I visited the nurses there (the females at least) wore the all white uniform with white cap. It was nice to see :)

[creamcheesepuff]

OMG...I think mine is crushed somewhere....since I moved......Nursing caps were just part of the uniform.....it was nice...but not very hygenic and was a germ carrier....not that your uniform isnt...but this is what I heard way back when, that nurses stopped using them because they got dirty and you couldnt wash them and they were just an annoyance, falling off and all.

[creamcheesepuff]

ugh, pantyhose .....hate them. give me white socks and pants anyday for nursing...more practical on the floor.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Around 2006, 2007. Used to know a couple who wore them up until then; one retired and the other just stopped wearing it (finally)!

I have one I wore for occasional Halloween shifts. But not even that for the last couple of years.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

As to "can't wash," of course you can. But nobody likes doing hand washing of delicates anymore. Mine is stiff enough to clean with a brush, but I don't wear it anyway, so it sits, dusty and yellowing, on my dresser.

As to pantyhose, some of us remember nylons with garter belts or (gasp) girdles. When pantyhose came in and OR / PACU nurses (we all wore scrub DRESSES in those years, never scrub shirts and pants) started wearing them, infection rates in the OR dropped. True story.

[Fiona59]

I was told that our hospital used to launder the caps. One of the porters who used to work in the laundry (when we still had one) told me she had spent hours pressing them.