Doctor visit nostalgia: nurses in uniform; doctors in suits

In the not too distant past, doctors were men and nurses were women. The idea of a male nurse was unthinkable because…

… nurses back then wore white nurse uniforms that had a dress component. To anyone reading this born after the mid 1980s, what I just described wasn’t an image from a 1950s- era sitcom comedy, it was for real and a doctor not wearing a suit with a tie and Sunday-best shoes… unthinkable.

Nurse’s uniforms were basically Snow White dresses to the knee. White hose on the legs and white, orthopedic looking shoes that I think were actually designated as nurse shoes. On the head was always some type of cap (also white) that varied in style depending on the location and geography.

Sometimes the doctor had a stethoscope around his neck and sometimes he wore a white lab coat over his suit.

Unlike today, you definitely knew a nurse from a doctor.

Absolutely!

"Scrubs" hadn't been invented yet, I think.....

Neither had those little alcohol swabs in the little envelopes. Cotton balls and tongue depressors were in glass jars on the counter, there was a scale that measured height in each room, a gooseneck light on wheels.....

I got out of the service in 1985, at that time my mom was still working as a nurse and still wearing her traditional nurse's dress uniform with her white cap and colored band around the cap. Although by that time some of the nurses were starting to wear white slacks and blouses instead of the dresses. I don't ever remember seeing my mom in slacks and a blouse but a couple of the women she worked with were starting to wear the white slacks and blouses by the middle eighties from what I can remember.

@enough My ex was a nursing student in the 1960s and was advised to always wear a panty girdle to help protect their backs.

In the not too distant past, doctors were men and nurses were women. The idea of a male nurse was unthinkable because…

....

Actually, when I worked in a big city hospital in the mid 1960s, the women’s Med-Surg floor (yes, the floors were separated by sex) had a male charge nurse. He wore a white shirt and while pants. There was a female GYN surgeon with operating privileges there as well. But, in general, the OP is correct. The rest of the nurses were female and dressed in their white uniforms, shoes, and caps. The attending so s works suits and the house staff wore white lab coats (over their scrubs if the were in the OR or delivery rooms).

I prefer the updated style today. Nurse uniforms used to make me nervous when I was a kid. I haven’t seen them wearing those uniforms for decades. I’m sure they’re more comfortable too.

"Scrubs" hadn't been invented yet, I think.....

Before scrubs were invented, what was worn during surgery?

Before scrubs were invented, what was worn during surgeries?

Clean Gowns and coverings were identified as needed to prevent infections in the 1940’s. Before that Drs wore Street clothes with an apron to keep their clothes clean. Scrubs began to be more common in the 1950’s

https://www.nationalscrubs.com/history-of-medical-scrubs-a/269.htm#:~:text=In%20the%201940s%20awareness%20of,and%20medical%20staff%20while%20operating.