1950s nursing

Nurses General Nursing

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RNKPCE

1,170 Posts

In nursing school in the mid 80's there was one instructor/nurse who stood up at the nurses station whenever a doctor walked in.

Also around the early 90's you had to have an MD order to do a oxymetry check and only RT's have the equipment to do them.

I worked at a Catholic hospital as an aide in the mid 80's and only male na's could cath male patients. Also your uniform had to cover your butt, no tucked in shirts.

Specializes in Pediatrics.
In 1950 I was six years old, so I wasn't a nurse, but these are the things that I remember about medical care. Everyone had a family doctor who was like a member of your family. He took care of your mom and dad, aunts and uncles, grand parents and you. Our family doctor was Dr. Riech. He was a scrubby clean, sweetly serious man with a bald head with meteciously cut white hair on the sides. "His" nurse was Alma. When you went to the doctor's office, you didn't call first, you just walked in. His office was open from 7am to 4pm, Monday through Friday and from 7am till 12 noon on Saturday.

The doctor's office: The office was in a small red brick building. It had wooden door with a large glass, like a french door, and Dr. R.F. Riche, M.D. was painted neatly on the door in gold leaf, block lettering with the hours below, and a phone number to call the doctor, after hours, which was his HOME phone number. You couldn't see inside the door because it had a spotless, white, sheer curtain, gathered closely together and tightly stretched, on the inside of the door, between two curtain rods at the top and the bottom of the glass.

When you opened the door and walked inside, it was a large waiting room with dark oak wooden arm chairs lined up against three walls, and they were always full of patients. The walls always looked freshly painted, and were "hospital" green, a light minty color. There were 12x12 green and white asbestos tiles with little black veins in them, on the floor, that were so shiny that you could see yourself in it. The minute that you walked through the door, you smelled alcohol. There was a long, dark oak, chest high, counter centered in the middle of the wall that faced the entry door and a closed, dark panneled oak door was in the wall behind the counter. When you entered the office a buzzer sounded and Alma, immediately came out from the closed door behind the counter.

She knew your name, greeted you with your name, asked how the family was, how you were, and told you to have a seat and the Doctor would see you when it was your turn.

Alma was middle aged, matronly chubby, impecably dressed in a starched, never wrinkled, long sleeved, white uniform, a gold nurse pin on her breast, white hose with seams up the back, white oxfords that looked like they were new out of the box, and a friendly, smiling face with perfect makeup, under perfectly coiffed hair, and not a hair out of place under her snappy, white starched nurse's cap. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Immediately after she greeted you she went back inside the closed door. She would come out that door with a patient and go back in with another one, until it was your turn.

The office was very quiet, there was no piped in music, people visited with each other in hushed voices, no one's babies screamed, children sat quietly by their parents until it was their turn to see the doctor.

Your turn: Alma came out and said, Dr. Riech is ready for you now, Mary Lou, and you entered with her through the closed door. You were in the only examine room. It was spotless, furnished with a black upostered bed, lounge chair kind of looking thing that was on a white porcelain pedastal that had all kinds of chrome plated gizmos on it that could be lifted from the sides, and the doctor pumped a lever on it's side with his foot to raise and lower the contraption. There were several, free standing, white enameled coated cabinets along the walls with glass windows in them like small white china cabinets, and there were all kinds of bottles jars, towels, bandages and amazing things in them. There was a skelleton in the corner of the room and a skull mounted on a stand on top of one of the cabinets. There was a white refrigerator where the doctor kept medicines and serums, etc. Alma helped you up on the table and put a glass thermometer in your mouth, took it out and told the doctor your temperature.

Dr. Riech always had on a white lab coat, never a speck or wrinkle. He wore a head band thing around is forehead to the back of his head that had a round shiny silver reflector kind of thing with a light and a hole for his eye to look through, attached to it. He would make small talk with you, while asking your symptoms. He always looked in your ears with a pointy flash light thing, and would say humm, then he have you open you mouth, press your tongue down with a unwrapped clean depressor that he pulled from a jar full of depressors, (no gloves, but his hands always smelled like Lifebuoy Soap), and say, "Say ahh", you said,"Ahh", and he would stick the depressor in, look around, remove the depressor, and Alma would take it from him and throw it in a big white enameled waste can with a lid that she opened with her foot on a lever. Dr. Riche would then pull down the round shiney thing on his head and looke into your eyes.

When I needed a shot, Alma prepared the injection and handed it to Dr. Riche. He gave the shot. I would cry, he would coddle, pamper and tell you it was almost over and Alma held your arm still. When it was over, Dr. Riche gave you a new depressor to take home with you, a couple of bandaids, and a cherry flavored lollypop on a kind of flexible string handle. He gave you and your Mom a hug and Alma took you to the closed door and let you out and brought the next patient in. If you remembered to, you paid her for the visit, if you forgot they never billed you, and never said a work to you about it. We always paid him. It was always about $5.00 maybe $7. or $10. if you got a shot or one of those little white envelopes with medicine that he despensed right from his office. I loved Dr. Riche, Alma, and going to the doctor. Everyoe did.

:rolleyes: WOW! That sounds straight out of a movie. I keep thinking "Dennis the Menace" or "Leave it To Beaver". Things sure have changed...but I for one am happy about the switch from the plain white dress and stockings to scrubs! :lol2:

NurseFirst

614 Posts

I developed xray films by dunking them in tanks of solution.

I saw lab techs doing CBC's by looking thru a microscope and counting cells.

How do they "develop" x-rays now? Funny, I had never considered that xrays had changed; when I worked in the ER in the 70s, I remember those developing tanks...how many steps was it?

Yes, lab techs counting CBCs with those slides with the grids on them. I think the "multi-test" machines (SM7, etc.) started coming out in the 70s. Certainly no rapid-test micro tests!

Oh yeah, I forgot. When I started working in ER admitting in 1971 or 1972 ambulance folk were MEN and had to have an advanced first aid card. I remember one of the supervisors telling me how he was an American Red Cross advanced first aid instructor and would sign the cards of the guys he wanted to hire.

By the time I left in 1977, ambulance folk had to be at least an EMT and there were those with more advanced training, called paramedics. A JEMS (an emergency services magazine) editor was concerned that no one was calling the paramedics, because no one knew they existed. Consequently, the editor (or publisher or someone like that) had a friend in Hollywood, and they put together a series to "advertise" the existence of paramedics--called "Emergency" and had the LA Paramedics seal/patch. I became a Paramedic in 1977 (the first female trainee that my preceptors had...) in Southern California, and everyone wanted to be certified in LA County to get that patch. Some of you may remember, or may have seen reruns and have seen, "Johnny and Roy". Oh yeah, paramedics, at least in California, had to be certified in each county they worked. I ended up being certified in 4 different counties! Also, to go to paramedic school you had to have an ambulance company sponsor (paid your malpractice, I believe--I believe that was the rationale). There was no such thing as "standing orders", and in order to use "paramedic skills" you had to contact the paramedic base station, which was run out of the hospital, to get orders...so we learned how to "paint the picture" so that we would get the orders we knew we needed. EKG strips would get sent to the base station as well, although we were trained to read them (at least lead II, anyway...). We would go to base station reviews to get feedback on and sharpen our "radio" skills. (The driver was called the "radio man" and the passenger-paramedic was called the "patient man".)

I wish I remembered more...

prmenrs, RN

4,565 Posts

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

There's a big machine in X-Ray--it does the dipping, I think; they stick the film in the dark room side and it comes out the bottom of the machine on the other side. I've only ever seen the "out" side, kinda looks like a big vending machine w/nothing to sell.

happthearts

192 Posts

Let's see how my memory banks are working

Nurses didn't routinely take blood pressures in the 40's and early 50's as that was considered part of the practise of medicine.

Patient assessmens, ie listening to lung and heart sounds ,didn't become widespread untill the 70's.

When ICU/CCU first came about nurses had to wait for the MD to come before giving antiarrhythmic drugs IV, in fact in many places RN couldn't give any drug IV. Unless of course you were a CRNA.

CRNA's gave virtually all of the anesthesia agents as anesthesia before te 1960's was considered a Nurses job and not an area a MD should do.

If an MD came onto the floor the nurse had to stand, give up her chair to the MD, open the door for MD, stop using the chart and give it to te MD.

You had to play the "nurse doctor game" to get an order changed or one you felt the patient neded.

There was no such thing as every other weekend off.

Nurses like children were to be seen and definetly not heard.

Metal bedpans and hoppers.

Bed rest for weeks after an MI or birth.

I'm sure there is more, keep them coming

I remember doing all this even in 75 we were told we were the hand-maidien of the MD.and if a doc asked for coffie you ran and got him some.It was your job!

We used clinitest tablets to check for glucosuria--one of my classmates paniced one day cuz we were due in "conference", and she need to do the clinitest. She completely forgot how to do it: "I just threw the clinitest in the bedpan, I didn't know what the h*** I was doin'!"

in the eighties we did blood sugar checks by dropping a drop of blood on these blue strips that would change colors. you'd have to compare the ehues on the bottle to estimate your blood sugar.

colrainrn

12 Posts

Thanks to those who replied.....lets keep the thread coming. I loved reading about the 1887 Nursing roles and the doctors office visit of the 1950s---how things have changed!

Sean....new RN as of June 2004 Med/surg

Editorial Team / Admin

dianah, ASN

8 Articles; 4,167 Posts

Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.

These days the hospitals are making the change from "wet developing" of X-rays to digital, with viewing stations at every unit and even in the OR! The image is still acquired on a hard plate, but that is put into a special computer that creates the image on the computer screen.

Imagine, no more searching for X-rays that never materialize until AFTER the surgery (when they've been repeated STAT, so the pt can have his surgery), when they're located in a resident's locker!! OR in his car!!

Imagine the orthopedic surgeon having your digital images (all views) on 2 screens right there in the OR, to refer to-- with various ways to adjust the image (brightness, contrast, magnify an area of interest).

I think only mammo images are put in a developer these days, as no digital process is ready for the market yet.

What a difference 50 yr makes!

Who'd 'a thunk?????!!! :)

allamericangirl

195 Posts

"Dr. Riech always had on a white lab coat, never a speck or wrinkle. He wore a head band thing around is forehead to the back of his head that had a round shiny silver reflector kind of thing with a light and a hole for his eye to look through, attached to it."

So, what was that thing that he wore on his head called and did I describe it right? Did it have both a hole in it and a light on it? I remember it but not 100% vividly.

One very inportant thing that I forgot in the post that I really should have mentioned is:

Dr. Riech always listened to your heart with his stethoscope. It was always ice cold against your chest and back! LOL

jnette, ASN, EMT-I

4,388 Posts

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

P.S. nursefirst... blue thermometers oral ... red rectal.

Right-O !!! :D

Remember using these all the time still in the early seventies as a medic in the A.F. Heck.. I still have my old AF stethoscope ! (made in Germany) :D

Kikumaru

83 Posts

the non-bedside aspects of nursing:

Case Management, where nurses didn't do reviews for insurance or quality purposes. Nurses are also responsible for maintaining quality suveys of PCP's (primary care practitioners)....one thing MD's either look forward to or dread.

Educaton, where there weren't many DSD's (Director of Staff Development) nurses to ensure nurses learned the new way of patient care.

colrainrn

12 Posts

Anyone have any stories of being a student nurse in the 50s and 60s?

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