"The Good Ol' Days!"

One of my favorite things about allnurses is reading the posted "Stories" of how things used to be. I am amazed to learn about nursing in the past, and how things are different now. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

I was blown away to find out student nurses could not be married during school, when one of my instructors went to a Public Charity Hospital based Diploma Nursing Program.

I loved hearing about having to sterilize everything, and how the student nurses practically ran the hospital. ("A Physician would find a Nurse, begin a Hospital, . . .and start a Nursing School." -Straight out of one of my old Nursing School Text books."

How mental institutions have changed soooooooo dramatically just over the last 50 years!

How cancer was once an instant death sentence.

That Physicians sometimes slept at the bedside of a really sick patient, . . .And made housecalls!!!!

How hospitals were once basically an inpatient hospice before the advent of medicinal treatments such as antibiotics/antivirals.

That one of my instructors from the ADN program worked 7 days a week for $1 per shift her whole first year! (was pinned in 1957).

How one of my professors broke down in tears when a patient with a radio told her that JFK had been shot in Dallas, TX.

How one nurse had every child she had drafted in WWII, so she went as a "Civilian" Nurse to the Corps, and worked at Westpoint post-wartime.

Please add what you know about Nursing in the Past, you don't have to be from a previous era to join in, I'm not, but I promise to cherish each piece of information.

Any books or movies you could recommend a plus too! (History Buff!)

And, if you are from an era before the present, please share some stories about the Nursing Profession, and other memorable events from thah era!!! I can't wait to read them!!! If these stories aren't passed on, it makes me shiver to think we could loose just one!!

What Could You Share about the "Way Things Were Back Then?"

Specializes in none.

I miss the Nursing caps. I know they must have been a pain in the butt to wear, but you knew from the cap what school the nurse went to, and if they were an RN or LPN. Getting caped was a big thing. It meant you were ready to nurse to practice what you were taught in the classroom, that now you belong to a caring group of people called nurses. At a then, well known 3 year nursing program, It was not uncommon to see the caped nurses cry. It meant that much. It meant that much for me. I didn't even get a cap and I cried. I miss the caps.

I miss the caps.

Nobody's stopping you from wearing one.

Needle tips obviously would wear down with repeated use, so they had to be sharpened as part of routine maintenance, just as one does with cutting knives.

It would be so much more impressive walking into a room with a needle and one of those stick things that comes with knives and doing the back and forth sharpening as you go.

I miss the Nursing caps. I know they must have been a pain in the butt to wear, but you knew from the cap what school the nurse went to, and if they were an RN or LPN. Getting caped was a big thing. It meant you were ready to nurse to practice what you were taught in the classroom, that now you belong to a caring group of people called nurses. At a then, well known 3 year nursing program, It was not uncommon to see the caped nurses cry. It meant that much. It meant that much for me. I didn't even get a cap and I cried. I miss the caps.

Well unless your facility has a strict policy against wearing one, no one is stopping you from wearing a cap. Long as you stick to either one historically associated with the program you graduated from and or a generic version from Kay's, knock yourself out as they say! *LOL*

While some places are putting nurses back into whites, at least on the floors requiring caps would cause open rebellion on the wards!

Specializes in Adult/Ped Emergency and Trauma.
Nobody's stopping you from wearing one.
Left yourself wide open for that one, lol!

I remember a world before bariatric sized equipment. Stretchers looked like ironing boards with wheels. Beds were hand cranked and sized small enough for a semi-private room.

I do miss specific visiting hours.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I miss the Nursing caps. I know they must have been a pain in the butt to wear, but you knew from the cap what school the nurse went to, and if they were an RN or LPN. Getting caped was a big thing. It meant you were ready to nurse to practice what you were taught in the classroom, that now you belong to a caring group of people called nurses. At a then, well known 3 year nursing program, It was not uncommon to see the caped nurses cry. It meant that much. It meant that much for me. I didn't even get a cap and I cried. I miss the caps.

It was a big thing to go from a plain cap to one with diagonal stripes, then one with a solid stripe. When we graduated we got a completely different cap, which was the signature cap of the school, not the generic ones we wore when we were students.

"chief of medicine cardioverting patients with carotid sinus massage. cheaper than electricity. :smokin:"

they still do that

they do, but in the old days there was no electrical alternative, and i'll bet the chiefs don't stay all night at the bedside doing it now.:D

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i miss the nursing caps. i know they must have been a pain in the butt to wear, but you knew from the cap what school the nurse went to, and if they were an rn or lpn. getting caped was a big thing. it meant you were ready to nurse to practice what you were taught in the classroom, that now you belong to a caring group of people called nurses. at a then, well known 3 year nursing program, it was not uncommon to see the caped nurses cry. it meant that much. it meant that much for me. i didn't even get a cap and i cried. i miss the caps.

caps were a pain in the behind. i did have a capping ceremony and got capped -- that was a pain in the behind, too. i've never heard of a caping ceremony or of nurses getting caped, though. i know they wear capes in the uk -- or they used to. is that where you are?

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
caps were a pain in the behind. i did have a capping ceremony and got capped -- that was a pain in the behind, too. i've never heard of a caping ceremony or of nurses getting caped, though. i know they wear capes in the uk -- or they used to. is that where you are?

after we passed our first three months in nursing school, there was a capping ceremony (complete with candles and nightengale oath). i still have a picture of me standing next to a classmate, holding my candle and the carnation we got when we went up to be capped.

we also sang the school song. ("we hail to you st. joe's, may your shining light within us flow, like our quest for truth may it ever grow, as we honor you.") i played the piano when i was a senior for the freshman class that was being capped.

there's your bit of random trivia for the day.

caps were a pain in the behind. i did have a capping ceremony and got capped -- that was a pain in the behind, too. i've never heard of a caping ceremony or of nurses getting caped, though. i know they wear capes in the uk -- or they used to. is that where you are?

with all this modern day romance with vampires nurses should go back to wearing capes. think of the all fun you could have scaring certain patients and striking fear into the students. :D

Specializes in none.
caps were a pain in the behind. i did have a capping ceremony and got capped -- that was a pain in the behind, too. i've never heard of a caping ceremony or of nurses getting caped, though. i know they wear capes in the uk -- or they used to. is that where you are?

i have a picture of a capping held at helene fuld school of nursing in trenton, nj on sept.12, 1969. it shows the juniors or second year nursing students being capped by the seniors or third year students in what was called a candlelight ceremony. the picture is from the hospital newsletter called the pulsator. also on the same page is another picture of the capped student holding little porcelain lamps during the recitation of the florence nightingale pledge. i save it because an old dear friend is in both pictures. also, at the time i was working as a janitor and my picture is on the second page. i wish that i could upload the picture to this site, but my main computer is sick.