What happened to the nurse's cap?
We all know what nurses look like - busy women and men in scrubs, with ID badges and comfortable shoes, doing anything and everything that needs to be done care for their patients. But we can all picture the "classic" nurse, a woman clad all in white: dress, stockings, thick-soled shoes and, perched on her head, a perfect white cap. Nurses now wear more practical and comfortable clothing, but the white cap remains a well-recognized symbol of the profession.
The cap's beginnings
So where did the nurse's cap come from?
Religious nuns were some of the first women who became nurses, and the original caps resembled the long veils of habits. They helped to keep long hair out of a nurse's face and limit the spread of germs.
During the mid-1800s, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, required her nurses to wear a special uniform and smaller cap. Soon, these caps were standard for all nurses.
Ruffles, wings and pleats
Nursing schools and hospitals had their own unique caps in a wide array of styles. They were ruffled, starched, box-like, pleated, fluted, winged and even knotted like kerchiefs. If you were a patient in the 1900s, and the woman checking your pulse was wearing a cap fluted with delicate dotted lace, you knew that you were in the capable hands of a graduate from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. This cap was called the "Flossie" in honor of Florence Nightingale.
Nursing students sometimes wore caps that differentiated them from professionals, and nursing school graduates were "capped" to celebrate their accomplishments. Today, they are "pinned" to celebrate and mark the occasion.
Though caps like "Flossie," or Philadelphia General Hospital's "double frill," or the Bellevue Training School for Nurses' simply - yet aptly - named "fluff" were beautiful to behold, they were difficult to care for. Some caps had to be continually replaced, at expense to the nurse herself.
Caps created a sense of community among nurses, no matter where they ended up practicing. In a letter to the American Journal of Nursing, dated 1931, a nurse named Julia Gardner wrote, "When entering a strange hospital, as an affiliating student or visitor, it is almost like seeing a familiar face to see the cap of one's own school on a nurse there."
Changing times
In the 1970s, the nurse's cap faded from view as women became more empowered in the workplace and more men entered nursing. The nurse's cap was also seen as a gathering place for bacteria and not ideal for patient care. By the late 1980s, the cap was rarely seen in the United States.
Today, you're far more likely to find a nurse's cap in a glass case than on a unit, but it's still a powerful reminder of the history and pride of the profession.