Historical information

Alfred student nurses always wore arm bands to identify their level of seniority. This specific style was used from 1950-1992.

Significance

New nurses in preliminary training school had no arm badge and a red pattee cross on their hats. The 'signed on' first year student exchanged the hat with a red pattee cross for a hat with the hospital badge shown in the picture and wore the arm badge of the white pattee cross on a light blue square; the second year nurse wore a red skeletal cross on a white square and the third year nurse a filled in red cross on a white square. Prior to the 1950s the nurses from 1880 were identified by only two arm patches, a red skeletal cross and a filled in red cross which were on arm bands and were worn above the elbow on the left sleeve. This system meant that all hospital staff could tell at a glance what stage of training the student was at and behave accordingly.