White uniform dresses

[Dalla]

Does anyone ever wear the old style white uniform dress these days? I will be working in a LTC and rehab facility. I am wondering if wearing the old uniform instead of scrubs would bring a smile to the faces of the older clients. Nostalgia and all that? I kind of miss seeing nurses in these uniforms with the white hosiery and white shoes and white cap on their head. I see dresses in some of the scrub catalogs and am wondering if anyone wears them.

[Katnip, RN]

I graduated from University of Maryland and they don't give caps anymore. Nobody makes them. They were similar to the organdy caps but the ceremonial ones were more like a sheer dotted Swiss, and the work version was plain white. No one makes these caps since you needed a special fluting iron to put it together after washing.

The pattern was given to the founder of the nursing school by Florence Nightingale and it was adopted, minus the ribbons down the back and chin ribbons.

I was a little saddened that we could not get those caps, even though they're a pain. It was a tradition that was lost to use forever.

[psalm, RN]

Katnip, love your "fighting feline"!

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

I

I am a proud graduate of the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing ('84) in Charlotte NC, a three-year diploma school which is, unfortunately, no longer in existence. The longer I've been out of school and practicing, the more I appreciate what an excellent nursing education I got there.

I think I know the organdy cap you're referring to -- looks like an upside down soufflé cup with a ruffle around the bottom, right? That's not my cap, but that cap is v. famous and known as the "Bellevue fluff" (because it originated at the legendary Bellevue Hospital SON in NYC). The Presby cap is v. odd and looks like a party napkin folded into a fancy shape sitting on top of your head -- it is actually supposed to represent the "dove of peace," and the three folds on the back represent three desirable qualities that I have long ago forgotten. Those of us Presby students who tended toward the irreverent and enjoyed watching the instructors grind their teeth used to refer to it as a "duck's a$$". :)

See all the cool lore and gear we're missing out on by having moved away from all this tradition????? :)

I actually have a collection of vintage nursing caps, I graduated from a diploma nursing school also in Beaumont Texas....... I am particularly fond of the organdy caps............ and I have a few linen ones.....my regional nurse consultant brought me her cap from a Houston School...... I continue once or twice a week to wear all white and done the cap...... my LYC patients love it,

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

I graduated from University of Maryland and they don't give caps anymore. Nobody makes them. They were similar to the organdy caps but the ceremonial ones were more like a sheer dotted Swiss, and the work version was plain white. No one makes these caps since you needed a special fluting iron to put it together after washing.

The pattern was given to the founder of the nursing school by Florence Nightingale and it was adopted, minus the ribbons down the back and chin ribbons.

I was a little saddened that we could not get those caps, even though they're a pain. It was a tradition that was lost to use forever.

Have you tried Kayscaps.com, email them with your school they have a huge organdy template index, and they make them in a few days....... I have purchased several from the historic schools that are no more, as St Lukes training school for the free hospital in Chicago.........

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Oh, I was just looking around Kay's Caps and I want one!

My mother knew all of the caps and ribbons in use on Staten Island. While it's nice that it's gone, from an infection control standpoint, it is a shame we lost something that made us so identifiable.

[astarr33]

I am a 36 yr old RN student. My mother graduated from a 3yr Diploma program in 1973. She still has her cap and cape. I grew up when real nurses wore white dresses, thick white hose, white nurses shoes, and their cap (that they had worked so hard to earn) every day, no matter where they worked. Nurses then were accorded so much more respect, by the general public, than they are now. Nurses were recognized instantly by their uniform as something worth respecting. Yes, nurses had to stand when the dr walked in, however, not every dr treated nurses as something beneath them.

To me, scrubs are horrid. Everyone from housekeeping to phlebotomy to radiology to Joe Jimbob wears them. Even people not in the medical field wear scrubs when they go to WalMart because they are comfortable. I want to see the nursing profession regain the respect it once held in the eyes of the public and the community. My nursing program requires the white uniform, and to me, that is a great start.

I want be capped at my graduation when I am pinned. Noone else in my class wants to do it because it is so "old fashioned". I want the cap, I want the cape, I want the whites, the whole 9 yds. I feel that when I graduate, I will have earned it!!

For my graduation pictures, I will wear a generic white nurses cap, and my mother's cape. I will be a proud Registered Nurse, and I want everyone who sees me to know it. Once I am employed, I hope I will be allowed to wear my cap to work every day. My mom did it, in some horrific conditions, and never lost her cap. Surely I can do the same!