Nursing Trivia: The Nurse's Cap

Did you know that the nurse's cap is patterned after the nun's habit and that its
original purpose is to keep the hair neatly in place and present a modest
appearance?

In nursing schools, female students participate in capping ceremony (pinning for

males) wherein they vow to behave ethically and honour the nursing profession.
The ceremony also seeks to encourage students to persevere despite the hardships
they encounter in nursing school.

The nursing cap, a widely recognized symbol of nursing, is no longer used in the
United States and Europe. This once emblematic part of the nursing uniform is now
regarded as a potential carrier of disease-causing pathogens. Although still being
used in developing countries such as the Philippines, the nurse's cap lost its
popularity to "scrubs" as early as late 1980s.