# When/Why did nurses stop wearing white uniforms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239 "2008-07-12T15:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/1 "2008-07-12T15:03:45Z")
Back in the “cukoo’s nest” days, the nurses wore that now stripper-costume-associated-with white uniform, a fairly snug fitting dress. Now nurses seem to be a bit plumper and wear loose ‘flower pattern’ medical fabric shirts. When did this change happen – and why? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/2 "2008-07-12T15:41:50Z")
It didn’t change all at once. It happened over a decade or two. Nurses’ body styles haven’t changed. The > [@](#): > > stripper-costume-associated-with white uniform has always been a sexual caricature. White uniforms just aren’t practical. We work in a messy environment. We get dirty. Medications can stain, blood gets spilled, body fluids get splashed. We do our best to not let such things happen, but they do. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/3 "2008-07-12T15:57:48Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] It didn’t change all at once. It happened over a decade or two. Nurses’ body styles haven’t changed. The has always been a sexual caricature. White uniforms just aren’t practical. We work in a messy environment. We get dirty. Medications can stain, blood gets spilled, body fluids get splashed. We do our best to not let such things happen, but they do. [/QUOTE] I think that studies have shown (but of course I don’t have a cite for this) that wearing the newer style prints is more relaxing to the patients. I know that I’d rather stare at a mildly interesting print when someone’s drawing blood, for instance. And of course it’s easier to care for the printed and colored uniforms, as **picunurse** said. The new styles are less fitted, so they’re easier to move in, and don’t have to be tailored so dramatically. My current (male) doctor wears polo shirts and slacks, and I find this to be less intimidating than more formal wear. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/4 "2008-07-12T18:58:14Z")
Just an added note, when first became a nurse, we were required to wear, not just white, but white dresses. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/5 "2008-07-12T21:10:19Z")
I have to wear surgical scrubs when I work at the hospital. Nice and comfy, and it’s hard to be intimidated so much by the higher-ups when they’re wearing the same wrinkly, baggy, hospital-name emblazoned outfit that I am. 🙂 In other parts of the hospital, I’ll sometimes see a (rare) nurse dressed in standard old-timey whites. First time I saw one, it was Halloween, so perhaps I can be forgiven for initally thinking that she was just dressed up for the holiday. (And she was, I shit you not, wearing her hair in pigtails.) But no–I saw her after that, and she apparently just likes the uniform. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/6 "2008-07-12T21:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] Just an added note, when first became a nurse, we were required to wear, not just white, but white dresses. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I’ve seen a nurse sitting on top of a patient giving chest compressions or something while the patient was on a gurney being pushed down the hall at top speed. In scrubs at least nobody sees your underwear! ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/7 "2008-07-13T00:56:09Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I’ve seen a nurse sitting on top of a patient giving chest compressions or something while the patient was on a gurney being pushed down the hall at top speed. In scrubs at least nobody sees your underwear! [/QUOTE] Amen! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/8 "2008-07-13T01:30:55Z")
My parents worked in various hospitals all their lives, so I saw this progression slowly over time. Kind of a shame, really, because I like the old timey white uniforms, I think they can be very attractive. And not in a sexual way, either Though that has its place too. Unfortunately the stripper-type of uniform is usually stylised to the point of absurdity, and doesn’t look very attractive to me at all. Japanese porn seems to get it right, but nobody else. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/9 "2008-07-13T03:21:22Z")
As a hi-jack “When did wearing the Nursing school cap end”? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/10 "2008-07-13T03:24:03Z")
When both my mother and I were working in healthcare in 1970, EVERY nurse wore white, except for the operating room staff. Pantsuits had just begun to be accepted, but most of the older nurses stuck with their dresses. Less than five years later, pantsuits were the rule rather than the exception. That was also about the time I saw nurses move to scrubs instead of whites. It wasn’t just nurses, either. Both female and male aides also had uniforms. By the early 1980s they had all been almost completely replaced by scrubs. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/11 "2008-07-13T03:43:21Z")
What did male nurses wear back then? And nowadays is there any issue with patients not being able to distinguish among different types of hospital staff? Some time after my daughter was born, in the hospital, I turned to (someone I thought was) an orderly to ask where I might find a nurse–turned out the guy _was_ the nurse. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/12 "2008-07-13T03:52:27Z")
My grandmother was a nurse. I find it difficult to find the white uniforms sexy, but they were cool in their way. Grandma retired before wearing scrubs all the time became the norm, but she was a labor-and-delivery nurse, so I gather that she wore them quite a bit anyway, just because of the workload. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/13 "2008-07-13T04:26:09Z")
[QUOTE=Booker57] As a hi-jack “When did wearing the Nursing school cap end”? [/QUOTE] I came in to ask that very same hijack question. It must have been on NPR that I heard a woman talking about folding and pinning and starching a square of linen or cotton into a nurse’s cap. I knew they were unique to the school/hospital, but I assumed a nurse’s cap was like any other uniform piece. You went to the uniform shop and bought one. Fought my ignorance, that story did. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/14 "2008-07-13T04:30:15Z")
Really? I’m going to be the first person to give the “plumper nurses” thing a WTF? Or is this type of pronouncement just a given in this guy’s posts? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/15 "2008-07-13T04:34:11Z")
Since he thinks all fat babes dress the same, and doesn’t like their choice, I’d go for “just a given.” ---
**Author:** ![Eggerhaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@Eggerhaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eggerhaus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/16 "2008-07-13T05:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] What did male nurses wear back then? [/QUOTE] Back in the mid-to-late 70s, when I was in nursing school, we guys had to wear white zip-front polyester tops, white belt, white pants, white socks and white shoes. Christ, I hated that outfit. I was living alone at the time and hated ironing…so I’d put the uniform between my mattress and box spring to “iron” it while I slept. My ex would starch her nursing cap (the thing unfolded for cleaning) and slap it on the side of the 'fridge until it dried. Slight hijack, I’m surprised I didn’t get kicked out of nursing school…we did a few weeks on a urology floor during a med-surg rotation and one of my instructors read me the riot act because I’d answer the phone, “Urology…can you hold?” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/17 "2008-07-13T05:45:18Z")
[QUOTE=Eggerhaus] Slight hijack, I’m surprised I didn’t get kicked out of nursing school…we did a few weeks on a urology floor during a med-surg rotation and one of my instructors read me the riot act because I’d answer the phone, “Urology…can you hold?” :smack: [/QUOTE] Thank you for that. I needed a great laugh and that was hilarious. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/18 "2008-07-13T05:49:12Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] My current (male) doctor wears polo shirts and slacks, and I find this to be less intimidating than more formal wear. [/QUOTE] [Formal wear?!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_wear) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/19 "2008-07-13T15:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] What did male nurses wear back then? And nowadays is there any issue with patients not being able to distinguish among different types of hospital staff? Some time after my daughter was born, in the hospital, I turned to (someone I thought was) an orderly to ask where I might find a nurse–turned out the guy _was_ the nurse. D’oh! [/QUOTE] Not quite the same thing, but there was a bit of furor among the staff kind of recently when one of our downtown hospitals stopped letting nurses wear Spongebob or whatever scrubs they liked and started requiring they wear scrubs color coded by job - medical, surgical, pediatric, whatever. (Which is the way they wear them on Scrubs, sort of.) The complaints were because of expense (they’d spent a lot of money on Spongebob scrubs and it’s not like you can wear them out on the town) and suppression of individuality and whatnot, but as far as I know they went through with it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239/20 "2008-07-13T16:27:31Z")
All of the nurses in one of the medical units where I work have decided to adopt unofficial uniforms. They all agree on what common outfits they will wear from day to day. I noticed the first time I saw all of them wearing Spongebob scrubs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-did-nurses-stop-wearing-white-uniforms/456239.md?page=2)