History of the Nurse Uniform: Florence Nightingale

Have you ever wondered about the purpose of a nurse’s uniform? Is it because it is comfortable or convenient? 

Why were nurse uniforms created? For as long as nursing has been a formally recognized profession, dress codes have been implemented.

For as long as nursing has been a formally recognized profession, dress codes have been implemented.

In 1854, Florence Nightingale trained nurses during the Crimean War

She required nurses headed for Crimea to wear identical outfits that were comprised of a gray tweed dress, gray worsted jacket, plain white cap, and short woolen cloak.

The nurses also wore a sash embroidered with the words, “Scutari Hospital.” across their shoulders.

Nightingale hoped that the uniforms would protect the nurses from disorderly conduct from the wounded soldiers they would care for.

The Crimea nurses described their garments as “ugly” and “frightful.”  

Nightingale founded the Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’s Hospital, where her nurses wore a simple brown uniform with a white apron and cap.

Nightingale’s Crimea nursing uniforms were typical representations of nurse attire in the late 19th and early 20th century, which did not invite or even permit inappropriate misconduct.

Nurses during this time tended to dress unattractively to fend off unwanted advances by male patients.

The early nurse uniforms consisted of long sleeves; a high neck; wide, floor-length skirt; and stiff bib, apron, and cuffs.

Many nurse dresses even had a longer train on the rear hem, so that it would cover the nurse’s ankles when she leaned over a patient’s bed.

The uniforms mimicked that of armor to represent a barrier between the nurse and the patient.

At the time, there were very few jobs available to women that required such intimate contact as touching and manipulation of the body.  

A few theories have been offered about the origin of nurse uniforms.

One is that nursing grew from its association with the military. Since the military placed heavy emphasis on uniforms establishing order, camaraderie, and rank, nurses did the same.

Another theory is that nursing uniforms were a modification of what nuns wore since they were the first women to take up the roles of nurses.

The truth could be a mixture of the two due to the military-style discipline of the nurse training programs at the time, and to the religious calling, some women felt to become nurses.   

HARMINDER SINGH KITTY

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