Nursing Uniforms at Illinois Wesleyan

In 1968, nurses were wearing long sleeved dresses with the classic nursing cap. This was the standard for female nurses for many decades. This was not only a double standard for gender, but both functionality and sanitation. The first thing to go was the cap, and there was a risk of that causing sanitary problems such as being difficult to clean and potentially harboring bacteria. Men were able to wear scrubs, but all women in healthcare would wear dresses which was not only a potential problem for the patients, but the nurses as well. Having their legs out was a potential hazard for bodily fluid contact, or for transmitting disease. Wearing dresses is also not always functional in nursing, as nurses are constantly moving and doing different interventions with their patients. Nursing slowly began to change to uniformity of everyone wearing scrubs, no matter their gender which was much more functional overall.

At IWU, they began to use white top and bottom scrubs, white shoes, and a white undershirt. Illinois Wesleyan University was embroidered on the chest, but names were no longer inscribed in the uniforms. Students are now only required to wear their university scrubs for mandatory clinical rotation days, which is a large change from having to wear their uniform every day. Many things since have been changed for safety, like not wearing jewelry and having hair pulled back. One of the traditions that is still upheld is the nursing pin that we receive at graduation, and wearing the white nursing jacket over scrubs or business professional attire. The name tags have also changed, and they now only have first name and photo ID. The next biggest change that occurred was changing to green scrubs, mainly for functionality and cleanliness, since white scrubs are much more susceptible to becoming dirty. This took a lot of work, as did all of the other changes that have been made throughout IWU history regarding uniforms.

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Nursing Uniforms Through the Years

Drexel University Online celebrates more than 100 years of providing innovative education for the future of nursing -- See their informative video on nursing uniform evolution here!