I dated a nursing student while we were both in college. She was so excited at graduation to receive her nurses hat (I'm not really sure if they are called something more formal), since it was a symbol of her accomplishments. So my question is, what's the significance of receiving the hat nowadays if they are no longer worn or displayed anywhere?

We didn't get hats, either - we also did a pinning ceremony. Actually it might have been neat to get a hat, but it's not like I would have worn it.

I graduated 31 years ago. The nursing cap was the epitomy of arrival. I keep my hat as an "antique" - my students enjoy seeing it. I'm glad we don't wear them any more, but they remain a nice symbol of nursing. We had dudes in our class, too. I'm trying to remember what they got - I think they may have added a stripe to their uniform collar or something like that. My original program was ADN. We got plain white caps after the first year. It was such a status symbol. When we graduated, we got the school cap with a black stripe on it.

My capping ceremony was like a starting pistol at a long marathon. It was the beginning. Pinning and graduation was winning the race. The men in our class 1974 instead of pins got black bars to pin on their collars. At graduation we all got our pins and diploma. It was glorious. kittiesmom

I work with a nurse who won't go a day without wearing her cap on the floor. She still wears the nurses dress but in pink for breast cancer awareness. She always has a smile to go with the outfit but one can tell she is "old school" because she still jumps out of her chair when the doctors walk in and address them with "yes, sir, no sir". She has decided to give me one her caps (if I ever graduate) and I serously thinking about donning it in her honor.

It is interesting to see everyone's reaction to the Nursing Cap. I look forward to my capping ceremony in November, it will be 2 1/2 weeks before graduation. I feel it is a great way to honor where we came from; the cap is a tradition dating back to Florence Nightingale's Era. We can honor where we came from while still appreciating how far we have come.

I think the "old school nurse" is great. I don't see myself jumping up because a doctor came in the room, but then again how much time do we sit? Yes, Sir and Yes, Ma'am are just part of my upbringing, excuse this daughter of the Southland if my manners offend; but I would rather offend you with manners than my parents with my lack of them.

I was capped when I got my RN and pinned for the BSN and MSN. I didn't buy the cap at the time but now I wish that I had. I just may contact the college and get one even if it's to put in my nursing collectibles case.
The Nurse Practitioner's Place

We wore our caps every day during nursing school and were pinned half way through. At Graduation we got to put a green stripe on for LPN. It was a proud and glorius day. I stopped wearing my hat many years ago. But my best memory is the fact that our caps had to be clean, starched and folded correctly every day. We also had to have clean shoes and shoes laces, even if they were to be polished every other day. Well with studies and other things I was always a little behind so my grandfather, (God, bless him), Would take my clean, starched cap and measure the fold and pin it in the back and would polish my shoes (or buff of the soil) and put clean washed laces in my shoes every morning. I got the star at the end of the school year for the cleanest shoes and proper cap. Without my grandfather (and the rest of my family) nursing school would have been much harder. gramps passed on a few years ago and I miss him alot.

Way back in my yuth, I remember nurses with stripes on their caps. Seems like they were black strips and one or two on 'the brim'. The nurses I mention this to at school look at me like I'm nuts. Am I? Or did the caps have these in the past?

I have possilbly the stupidest question ...what are these caps called? My mother got one when she graduated in 1977. It had a fuschia stripe on it, but she wore the hat she bought with the black stripe for years before her hospital no longer required them. I may be old fashion but I want one and would wear it and the entire uniform. I have seen older women still wear them and it makes me think to myself " that's a nurse" as everyone is wearing scrubs and they are all different colors and styles it is hard to know who is who. I want my uniform to say..I am a nurse, not an aide, radiology, or housekeeping. There is nothing wrong with any of these professions I have worked as a couple of them but when I pass my test due to all my extra work .....