MyNursingUniforms is pleased to present this brief article on the history of nursing uniforms and the emergence of the nursing scrub. This particular article focuses on the 19th century onward.

Nurses uniforms have experienced dramatic alterations since their widespread emergence in the 19th century. From starched dresses to comfortable unisex scrubs, the design of nurses uniforms changed based on time period, functionality, and country of origin. Prior to the 1800s, nursing was a casual profession left to the monks, nuns, and women with low morals who set up make-shift hospitals, usually in churches. Nursing did not become a respected profession until the emergence of Military Nursing during the Crimean War.

Florence Nightingale's historical contributions to the field of nursing eventually led to the creation of the Nightingale Training School for Nurses, which opened in 1860 in St. Thomas hospital in London. The recognizable nurses attire was first created before the 19th century in Nightingale's school. One of Nightingale's students designed the uniform, and its style changed very little up until the 1940s. From the late 19th century onwards, nursing became a respected profession.

Beginning in the 1880s, nurses donned uniforms that were considered to be "state of the art" protection against illness, but were also functional expressions of feminine virtue. The uniform allowed for nurses to effectively treat patients, while also maintaining a respectable appearance. The original nurses uniform was known as the "fever proof" uniform, and covered the entire body, although it left the face and the hands uncovered.

The uniform was used not only for hygienic reasons, but also for identification purposes. Nurses needed to be easily recognized in a hospital setting. The traditional dress included a long sleeved dress with a starched collar, sometimes including a bowtie, a starched apron with shoulder straps, and a frilly cap that was kept in place with ties under the chin.

Nursing became one of the few decent professions a woman could enter into. Also considered to be good training for marriage, nursing provided golden opportunities to meet prospective husbands. Despite the large numbers of women entrants into nursing schools, men were often granted superior treatment as nursing students, and were rarely denied enrolment into a nursing program. Over the years, this would become a female dominated sector, changing recently to involve both sexes more equally.

The First World War saw a changing trend in nursing uniforms as a need to mass produce garments, coupled with a demand for easy cleaning of these garments, increased production. For example, the United States used a drab grey fabric for nurse dresses. Nurses were also required to wear a Red Cross badge on their arm while they served overseas. At this time, tippets were added to nurses wardrobes. This was a short cape-like garment worn over the shoulders with a badge or stripes sewn on the front to denote rank. Large, starched, floor length aprons were worn by nurses assisting in the operating rooms. This was a sanitary move, allowing nurses to care for multiple patients with pristine aprons that could be easily cleaned.

During the Second World War, the dress changed once again by shortening the floor length garment to mid calf and altering the style of cap to be more conservative without the chin straps that held it in place. While badges continued to be used, cap styles began to denote rank along with buckle design. Women were continually recruited into nursing in the 1930s. Nursing was an attractive alternative to typing or receptionist duties, and the use of eye-catching uniforms helped to make nursing more appealing to young women. A career that was both respectable and steady, nursing was emerging as a preferred vocation for many women around the globe.

In the 1950s nurses uniforms continued a rapid evolution in style. Becoming evermore functional, the uniform was short sleeved with a bibbed-front instead of the traditional apron. The caps saw a change into the "pill box" style. Due to high volume in hospitals, uniforms were designed to be simple in style and cleaning, and the starching of the garments was avoided to speed up laundry services in the hospitals. It was during the 1950s that the use of disposable paper caps became popular.

The surge of cultural change in the 1960s resulted in open collared uniforms, moving away from the image of purity portrayed by the traditional nurse attire. The United States began using early scrubs in select hospitals, and starched white garments were pushed aside in favor of comfortable and functional scrubs. Of course, this trend is not consistent between countries or even hospitals, but it was the beginning of the end for traditional nurse attire. In Europe, stockings were replaced with tights. While scrubs did arrive from overseas, they were generally only used in the operating theatres. The majority of hospitals in Europe continued utilizing the traditional nurses uniform. Men began to steadily enter the profession during this period.

Caps continued to change in the 1970s, and disposable paper caps became increasingly popular. Checked dresses in Europe were donned instead of the blue or black dresses. In the 1980s, disposable aprons become widely used. As male nurses became more prominent in the 1980s, a simple white tunic decorated with epaulettes distinguished them as nurses.

Caps and capes eventually faded out of use. In many parts of the world, nurses continue to wear the original style of nurses garb, despite the popularity of scrubs. In however in the 1980s a simple white tunic decorated with epaulettes distinguished them as nurses.

Technology has also improved in the area of textiles. This has turned the perception of protection into a reality as certain garments become more stain resistant. There are also a number of scrub brands that offer protection (EPA registered and USDA accepted), from microbial contamination with microbiostatic barriers.

Today, scrubs are the uniform of choice in most of the developed world, however some areas of Europe and countries in the developing world continue to use the very traditional nurses dress. Scrubs allow nurses to effectively and comfortably treat patients, and due to its unisex design, there is no longer a clear distinction between the male and female nurses in hospitals. Scrubs continue to be an identifier of health care professionals, allowing nurses to be both fashionable and fun in a variety of styles.

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