Nursing uniforms have evolved over the years. The traditional nursing uniform was the white dress, white cap, shoes, and white stockings. Alternatively, in some countries, the standard included a blue or other colored dress and a white “Pinafore” style apron. The general idea was that the apron would catch the soiling that can occur during medical procedures. The origin of the uniform began with nuns. The old traditional nursing uniforms cap was an adaptation of the nuns cap worn during medical duty and the style of dress came from the apron that nuns would don to protect their cassocks.
There was no real reason for this other than recognition, the usual reason for any uniform. This continued, in the United States, until the 1990′s the scrubs began to take over as the default nursing uniforms. This trend can be traced back to the 1960′s and the increasing freedom of women that resulted. It started with losing the high neckline and ended with losing the dress.
The Birth of the Scrubs
By the 1940′s it was understood that infection and sterility in surgical settings was absolutely essential to the health of the patients. Back then, surgeons and surgical nurses worn long, white, wrap around style gowns to safeguard patients health and protect their clothing from blood and other soiling. The white walls and white gowns where hard on the eyes in the bright lights and by the 1960′s a simple pant and tunic were developed that were light green to prevent glare.
They soon became very popular with nurses and by the 1990′s nurses had abandoned the restrictive, traditional dress for the scrubs as the new nursing uniforms. They never looked back. Scrubs are infinitely more practical, low-cost, and comfortable than the old, nun style dress and cap. There are still some that feel that the scrubs are too casual but how often do you see a nurse in a dress, outside of the annual Christmas party.