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Colorful fabrics. Playful designs. Saucy sayings such as “Spicy like Propofol,” an anesthesia drug that burns on injection, and one for Valentine’s Day that says, “Be Ketamine,” another anesthesia drug.

All are part of the scrub cap collection created by Laura Moreland, a student in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga nurse anesthesia program.

The caps also have a practical side, designed to be more comfortable than the familiar flat-blue caps whose seams can become uncomfortable across the forehead when worn for long periods—such as a standard nursing shift.

“I’ve always been ‘crafty.’ I’ve always done sort of the artsy type of stuff,” said Moreland, a registered nurse for 15 years. She decided to pursue a career in nurse anesthesia in 2021.

“I know it sounds like a weird thing, but when you’re wearing them every day, it can really irritate your forehead. So I tried to make these really soft ones.”

Moreland started making caps—which cost $20 each—last October. She has sold about 400 of them across the country and has an Etsy site, “KetamineandSprinkles.”

“I started by just making them for me, then I made a couple for my classmates,” she said. “Then I decided to open a little Etsy store, just thinking that it was going to be a fun thing to do.”

The caps also have a practical side, designed to be more comfortable than the familiar flat-blue caps whose seams can become uncomfortable across the forehead when worn for long periods of time—such as a standard nursing shift.