Uniforms and work wear have been used for many years to define a person's role or to protect normal clothing or under garments from spills and spoils. Uniforms have had many practical uses such as defining rank, status, and placement whereas works wear such as PPE (Personal Protective Clothing) have been defined for a specific purpose.
This no more so than the medical profession, the role of the nurse and the clothing worn having seen many significant changes over the years, not only to improve its form but also to keep up with equality within the work place.
Nurses Tunics started out looking no more important than the clothing worn by servants, in fact the two were almost impossible to tell apart. In these early days nurses weren't considered highly are therefore uniform consisted of a long dress with apron worn over the top and hat, which as you can imagine was highly impractical.
With the changes in uniform also came the introduction of training, Florence Nightingale, probably the most famous nurse in history, recognised the need for training women in their role as a nurse, and so as to easily identify a nurse with training items of uniform would be awarded, after 3 months training a nurse could expect to receive her hat, visibly showing she had completed training.
As the role of the nurse started to be recognised, the first changes in their attire were made; no longer would their appearance resemble that of a servant instead long dresses and aprons would be exchanged for a new look. Cloaks and hats would be worn when representing outside, but inside nurses tunics and aprons would be worn with a smaller hat. This made them distinguishable for the job they did, whilst emphasising their growing importance.
Then the war struck, the war having the biggest impact on nurses uniform, now more than ever the need for practical attire was paramount, skirts rather than long dresses were introduced for ease of movement, tops were either short sleeved or sleeves rolled up so not to interfere with procedures, also to increase hygiene, later nurses tunics would be introduced to increase functionality yet again. It is this period which gave way to the image of nurses in saucy little uniforms.
Today the nurses tunic still has to be functional, tunics are worn with trousers underneath for practicality, with small distinctive alterations to represent department, status or training. White coats similar to those recognised as doctors coats can also be worn by nurses or scrubs which limit the transfer of infection.
All this in mind it should not all be about the nurses tunics which have been worn throughout history, rather the role they have played in our health system.
Author Resource:-
Anna Stenning looks at the practical changes made to nurses tunics over the years and how their clothing slowly gained the respect for their role in our health service.
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