By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    HIPPA compliance
    How Medical Office Staff Can Make Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
    October 29, 2021
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    February 10, 2022
    Which Mushroom Capsules Are Good for Your Health?
    May 5, 2022
    Latest News
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Image
    Healthcare Pricing Transparency Gains Momentum
    June 24, 2013
    non-clinical care factors in health outcomes
    Addressing Non-Clinical Care Factors in Health Outcomes
    November 15, 2013
    e interventions
    Healthcare Progress Depends On “E Interventions”
    July 10, 2014
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: The History of the Nurse’s Cap
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > News > The History of the Nurse’s Cap
News

The History of the Nurse’s Cap

Trish Broome
Trish Broome
Share
8 Min Read
Image
SHARE

When we think of nurses, we imagine women in white, their thick-soled shoes beating a fast path toward needy patients. Or we remember pictures in children’s books of Florence Nightingale’s elegant form passing through barracks of wounded soldiers; the only light in the room comes from the single lantern she carries. These traditional images of the nurse aren’t complete without one essential item: her cap.

When we think of nurses, we imagine women in white, their thick-soled shoes beating a fast path toward needy patients. Or we remember pictures in children’s books of Florence Nightingale’s elegant form passing through barracks of wounded soldiers; the only light in the room comes from the single lantern she carries. These traditional images of the nurse aren’t complete without one essential item: her cap.

Nurses’ caps had both practical purposes and symbolic significance. Though it’s difficult to pin down an exact time period when wearing caps became standard practice, there is a mild consensus that they became prevalent in the mid-1800s.  Some say that caps were originally donned by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris, where one of the first official nursing schools was established in 1864.

Since nuns were among the first women to be trained as nurses, and to train nurses in turn, the original caps were akin to habits. Social mores of the time also necessitated the caps, since women were expected to keep their heads covered – even indoors. These longer caps served more than just the dictates of fashion; they also helped to keep a nurse’s hair out of her face as she worked, which facilitated more sanitary conditions.

More Read

lyme disease trend
Lyme Disease Rate 10 Times Higher Than Expected
Cost of Non-Compliance with HIPAA and HITECH
Top 4 Tips To Help You Treat Acne
Nurse Fired for Educating Patient on Hospice Care
No More Tobacco at CVS

Below see images of our very own employee nurses caps:

These nurses caps were collected from LifeBridge Health employees.

Image

Image

 

Image

For Florence Nightingale, unarguably one of the leading lights in nursing, the cap was inextricable from the profession itself. When she organized a mission of mercy to Scutari during the Crimean War, Nightingale required her nurses to wear a special uniform and nurse’s cap. After the war, she set up the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital; there, the longer, more bonnet-like caps were eschewed, and students wore shorter, square-shaped caps with their uniforms.

In many ways, the history of the nursing cap correlates to the history of women’s social liberties. As time passed and long hair was no longer de rigueur, the caps served as signifiers for a particular nurse’s educational background and level of expertise. Different nursing programs and hospitals offered their own caps: some caps were ruffled and frilled, others were starched stiff and box-like; some were Dutch-styled, winged caps, others looked like knotted kerchiefs. For instance, if you were a patient in the 1900s, and the woman checking your pulse was wearing a cap delicately fluted with point d’esprit 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.

Though caps like “the Flossie,” or Philadelphia General Hospital’s “double frill,” or the Bellevue Training School for Nurse’s simply — yet aptly — named “fluff” were beautiful to behold, they were cumbersome to care for. Some caps had to be continually replaced, at expense to the nurse herself. Still, the unique beauty of these caps, and the immaculate orderliness they evoked, no doubt inspired generations of future nurses.

Caps also facilitated 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.”

Caps were bestowed to both student and graduate nurses in a rite of passage known as a capping ceremony. Early ceremonies were conducted after three, six, nine or 12 months of training (whatever constituted a probationary period for each school). Sometimes these “probationer’s caps” were plain white versions of the graduate’s cap – in which case, completion of the nurse’s training was marked by the addition of a black stripe. Other schools opted to make their student and graduate caps entirely different. Capping ceremonies were often held in churches, where, before the students’ friends and families, they’d be “capped” by an instructor or by a mentor student, usually referred to as a “big sister.”

Being capped symbolized accruing the knowledge and prowess needed to truly serve as a nurse. Capping ceremonies were often emotional affairs with guest speakers testifying to the value of nurses within their communities. As one speaker at a 1938 graduation powerfully expressed, “the nurse’s cap means to you what the soldier’s uniform means to him. When this cap is pinned on your head, it means you have become a member of one of the noblest professions and have subscribed to its ideals of service. You are no longer merely an individual responsible for her own acts; you are part of the nursing profession.”

But as women in general become more enfranchised and empowered in the workplace, the nursing profession expanded into administrative areas and caps began to feel like relics of a bygone era. The 1970s and 80s also saw an influx of men into the field, which forced a change in tradition. Caps were gradually swapped out for the more gender-neutral, easily maintained, and (some might say) elegant pins. And caps, once thought of as the epitome of sanitary care, were now seen as harbingers for bacteria and other harmful contaminants.

Though you’re far more likely to find a nurse’s cap in a glass case commemorating a hospital’s rich history before you’ll find it on a ward, for many nurses, it is still a powerful reminder of the hard work performed and the obstacles overcome to find a foothold in their chosen profession. Nurses must often be all things to all patients, yet the breadth and depth of their work is, at times, all-too-easily overlooked. These nurses find their thoughts best expressed by Bonnie Miller, an RN at the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Brain & Spine Institute: “I may never wear [my cap], but I earned it.”

-Laura Bogart

 

TAGGED:nursesnurses caps
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

botox certification
Help Improve People’s Skin Health Via Botox Certification
Skin Specialties
July 22, 2025
Telemedicine Apps
Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
Health
July 20, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
Global Healthcare Policy & Law
July 17, 2025
paramedics in surgical gloves and masks
How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
Health care
July 16, 2025

You Might also Like

Probiotics Supplements
News

9 Mistakes To Avoid When Using Probiotics Supplements

September 4, 2022

CVS Kicks the Habit: No More Tobacco Products. What’s Next?

February 6, 2014
healthcare innovation
BusinessMedical InnovationsNews

Intermountain Healthcare Opens Innovation Center

September 6, 2013

Kaiser Permanente Colorado Drastically Improves Hypertension Control Among Its Members

September 22, 2012
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?