A typical nurse uniform consisted of a dress, pinafore apron and nurse’s cap. In some hospitals, however, student nurses also wore a nursing pin, or the pinafore apron may have been replaced by a cobbler style apron. This type of nurse’s dress continues to be worn in many countries. Nursing uniforms are attire worn by nurses for hygiene and identification. The traditional nurse uniform consists of a dress, apron and cap/scrub hats. It has existed in many variants, but the basic style has remained recognizable.
The first nurse uniforms were derived from the nun’s habit. Before the 19th century, nuns took care of sick and injured people so it was obvious that trained lay nurses might copy the nun’s habit as they have adopted ranks like “Sister”. One of Florence Nightingale’s first students (Miss VanRensselaer) designed the medical scrubs for the students at Miss Nightingale’s school of nursing. Before the 1940s minor changes occurred in the uniform. The clothing consisted of a mainly blue outfit. Hospitals were free to determine the style of the nurse uniform, including the nurse’s cap which exists in many variants. In Britain, the national uniform (or simply “national”) was designed with the advent of National Health Care in 1948, and the Newcastle dress. From the 1960s open necks began to appear. In the 1970s, white disposable paper caps/scrub hats replaced cotton ones; in the 1980s, plastic aprons displaced the traditional ones and outerwear began to disappear. From the 1990s, scrubs became popular in Britain, having first appeared in the USA; however, a majority of nurses in Britain continue to wear dresses, as in many other countries.