As a matter of fact, this profession as a whole is a relatively new invention. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, all women were expected to be able to perform, to some degree, the duties of a nurse. Whether they were married and had children or not, they were looked upon to tend wounds and infections, brew herbal drugs and remedies, and assist in childbirth. These women wore their everyday clothes, which more often than not was a dress and an apron.
As the role of nurses gained more significance and individuality, they began to differentiate themselves from common housewives and servants by donning white garments, often accompanied by a hat or cap. When famous nurse Florence Nightingale revolutionized this profession, all nurses began to wear starched white outfits with pointed caps that often bore the nurses' insignia of her level of training.
This standard of uniform continued until the 1970s when more men sought to train for and join this career. As a result, the outfit for a nurse changed to accommodate this change. Even more, as hospitals evolved into the technologically advanced and increasingly busy institutes, nurses found that their starched uniforms inhibited their ranges of motion. They eventually traded their trademark white outfits for leisurely scrubs.
Today, it is often difficult to differentiate a nurse from a doctor. Indeed, both wear scrubs to minimize the spread of infectious disease. Were it not for doctors' coats and nurses' name badges, a patient might easily call a nurse by a doctor's title and vice versa.
Those in the nursing profession do not have to special order their uniforms or have them tailored, as their historical counterparts did. Many big box retailers sell nurses tops and bottoms. These outfits come in stylish patterns and sometimes include popular cartoon characters that may appeal to adolescent patients. Nurses can mix and match their tops with their scrub bottoms to make it appear that they are wearing unique outfits instead of the same ensemble every other day.
Additionally, today's clothing does not typically require the special laundering and starching that the dresses of yesteryear required. Most modern nursing outfits are wash and wear, meaning that they can be worn and then laundered as other items of clothing. They do not have to be ironed or starched. Instead, they can be washed, dried, and hung up until their next wearing.
The nursing profession is one that has a long history. Despite that, nursing uniforms are a relatively new invention. While early American women who performed nursing duties typically wore everyday clothes like their dresses and aprons, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that nurses donned the stereotypical starched white uniforms that come to mind when one imagines a Florence Nightingale nurse. When they realized that these uniforms inhibited their movements, modern nurses exchanged the white outfit for colorful surgical scrubs.