I went to a retirement party last night for a nurse at my institution. She’d been employed there since 1984 and finished her career as an executive director of nursing. During the after-dinner festivities, many stories and photographs were shared with the attendees.

One picture (from her early years with our hospital) showed her with another nurse. The two were dressed in the traditional nursing garb of white cap, white uniform, white tights, and white shoes – something that isn’t seen much any more (especially the cap! Do you all know where your caps are? I’m very sad to say that mine has gone missing over the years.)

This picture – and the image – made me think of my own attire and appearance back when I was a staff nurse, most recently in critical care and the emergency department. In those two places, nursing whites are rarely seen. I believe that part of this is due to the impracticality of wearing white in such an atmosphere – one busy shift in the trauma bay or with a post-op or cardiac arrest, and your whites are history. [Read more...]