When did nursing caps go extinct in the wild?

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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?

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?

I also graduated from nursing school in the mid 1990's. We didn't wear caps, and neither did any of the nurses I observed at that time. In fact, I've never seen a working nurse wearing a cap. Well, except on TV. They can have 'em, as far as I'm concerned.

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Specializes in military nursing.

There were a few nurses who wore caps at the hospital where my nursing clinicals were held. I believe the tradition of wearing white scrub bottoms is still prevalent in many nursing schools, with a school identifying colored scrub top. Now being a military nurse I do not have a nurses cap, but I do have a cover every time I go outside. At least there's no saluting when you wear the nurses cap. :)

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wow nice to hear that caps still existS! :)

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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 :)[/quote']

until they are still wearing in some hospitals

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Nurses caps can be bought online at Kay's Caps. they cost $11.00 are very well done and they have different styles. I bought one and did a photo shot with my daughter in her cap. If you order one get the three dollar storage carrier to keep it clean.

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I graduated 10 years ago. We had caps, but mine never fit right - it felt like a box balancing on my head no matter how many bobby pins I put in it. I do like the look, but can see why it wouldn't be practical.

mc3:nurse:

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Nurses caps can be bought online at Kay's Caps. they cost $11.00 are very well done and they have different styles. I bought one and did a photo shot with my daughter in her cap. If you order one get the three dollar storage carrier to keep it clean.

Thanks! I want one just for a picture of myself wearing one to put in a frame with my mother's grad nurse pic.

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Specializes in Adult ICU/PICU/NICU.

I still wear my cap. I don't buy that "they carry germs" because they can and should be washed like the rest of your uniform. Impractical? It's what you are used to. I worked in critical care nursing for many years and it was never once knocked off my head. I was one of the last in my hospital to wear my cap and I'm the only school nurse in my district who wears a cap. I get "Yes m'ame and no m'ame" from the students. I have never been disrespected even by the most unruly student. There is no question in their mind who I am. Some who don't fully understand the cap say they are sexist, sex symbols, or they are to show that a nurse is a doctor's handmaiden. That simply isn't the case. Its a symbol of how hard you had to work and what you accomplished. My scrubs are for gardening or sleeping or lounging around the house when I'm feeling lazy. When I do nursing, I wear my whites, my pin and my cap....and will never give them up. I don't expect many young people will want to wear a cap, because this tradition has gone out with the demise of the old diploma schools. I do hope, however, that young people understand that a nurse who chooses to wear a cap does so because she is proud of it and what it stands for.

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I graduated 10 years ago. We had caps, but mine never fit right - it felt like a box balancing on my head no matter how many bobby pins I put in it. I do like the look, but can see why it wouldn't be practical.

mc3:nurse:

Though tradition frowns upon wearing a cap from a school that is not one attended there are plenty of generic caps. The only query to sort out is if one is entitled to wear stripe or stripes, other than that the world is your oyster. Try out several until you find one that suits.

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Specializes in Emergency, Correctional, Indigent Health.

When I entered Nursing as a student in 1970 there were seven men in my class. Everybody thought it was the beginning of "Men Entering Nursing." which was going to be the name of the National Society for Male Nurses. Of course it never happened, but the nursing cap was a real controversy. We had a new Nursing Director come into the hospital and as a male he wanted to have all the RN's wear nursing caps. We were at the University of Florida and their cap was an engineering disaster similar to what the Hindenburg was to Zeppelins. With my short hair getting the thing on was a trip, keeping it on was the real trick. We put it on as males to protest the absurdity of nursing caps needed to identify nurses. The original nursing caps were worn to keep the lice from dropping onto the patients. Before Florence Nightingale in 1854, nurses were frequently prostitutes because they had already seen naked men. The cap was a very succinct identification for the nurse for many years, and far be it from me to be maligned. Yet in today's world of Nursing it is an older sign of the people who give their professional lives in service to others. Respect it? Yes! Wear it. Hell No!

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I wore my cap for clinicals all through school and daily at my first nursing job. It was mandatory at that hospital and none of us considered it any big deal or hardship. Our (my school) caps were small and not at all clumsy or impractical for work. Although I went into psych early on, and have been working in street clothes for decades now, I still wear my cap on the rare occasions when I am in whites. When did I last see a cap "in the wild"? Last week. There is at least one nurse at my hospital who wear "real" whites (not scrubs) and her cap to work every day. When I worked as a hospital surveyor in the early 2000s, and went into nearly every hospital in my state, it seemed like most hospitals had at least one RN who still wore her cap; I would see one on nearly every survey.

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I haven't seen caps since the late 1990s.

And that's fine with me. It's nice for nostalgia, but that's about it.

Can't imagine a guy in a cap, just sayin'.

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