What happens when the concepts of utilitarianism, historicism, futurism, art and nursing collide? They produce "RN: The Past, Present and Future of the Nurses' Uniform," a fascinating study/collaboration/exhibit now ongoing at the Fabric Workshop and Museum.
This two-story interactive display considers the role that the uniform plays in the development of the discipline of nursing from a variety of vantage points. The Historical Nurse features original uniforms that date back to the 1800s. The Modern Nurse describes the transition from capped-nurse through the ubiquitous use of scrubs. And the Student Uniform highlights notions of uniform insignia to codify the profession and advance the idea that gentlewomen of higher social class could, without stigma, take up the lamp.
At the Military Nurse exhibit, former interim Penn President Claire Fagin, once a cadet nurse herself, observed and admired the extensive display of original cadet uniforms. Across from the military nurse display was a bronzed, double-frill cap, the hallmark of the nurses that graduated from the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing, which closed along with the hospital in 1977. The school, which had historic ties to Florence Nightingale through her prot‚g‚, Alice Fisher, defined early professional nursing standards in Philadelphia. The distinctive double-frill cap, worn by its graduates, was regarded as a symbol of excellence.
And while history and noble past were well represented under the auspices and direction of Dr. Karen Buhler-Wilkerson and the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at Penn, the future was a significant focus. The Bioterrorism Nurse, in spacesuit-style green, is a reminder of the tenuous present, and Post-Apocalyptic Nurse and Intergalactic Nurse may be harbingers of a traumatic and tumultuous future. The Diagnostic Nurse, with a sensor-envelope uniform anticipates a Star Trek-quality diagnostic approach to caring for future patients. It brings to human scale what Megatrends author John Naisbitt characterized as "high-tech/high-touch."
One of the most intriguing parts of the exhibit is the ongoing collaboration with artists and caregivers as they consider the notions of the ideal uniform. Predicated on a national survey conducted by the American Journal of Nursing and Medscape Online, the findings of focus groups of nurses past, present and future were combined with survey results, and generated artists' representations of what these ideal uniforms might look like.
In the center of the exhibit is a workspace in which actual uniform prototypes are under development. The surveys, which included the responses of almost 800 nurses, are posted on a large wall along with prototype drawings. These dominate the workspace and provide access and ongoing reference for the workshop participants.
Workshop artist Barbara Botting is wearing an original vintage 1930s student nurse uniform, which was manufactured by the Hospital Clothing Company, formerly at 1107 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Botting, who is part of the workshop project, also acts as our docent for this part of the exhibit, describing the work of the lead artists in the collaboration -- Mark Dion, J. Morgan Puett and Abby Lutz. Dion and Puett are in the lecture area, recounting the genesis of the collaboration, discussing the collection that has been assembled and the creative work that is underway.
But the exhibit does more than recount the history of the discipline and speculate about the physical representations of its future. It challenges mischaracterizations and misrepresentations that have been superimposed upon nurses by an ever-changing culture. It reminds the viewer that the story of nurses and nursing is one of complexity. And if society could hold up a mirror toward this subject, what it would see over her shoulder is a reflection of itself -- and a perspective of how we, as a culture and a country, view caring, nuturing, healing and the women and men who provide it.
This retrospective and prospective view comes as close as one might to the looking glass. In the telling of (her)story, it clarifies who nurses are and will continue to be: tough, smart, able, three-dimensional (mostly) women, who are central figures in healing humanity, regardless of the time warp.
Donna Gentile O'Donnell is finishing her Ph.D. in health policy history at the School of Nursing. She is from Philadelphia, Pa.
