Back in the day......

[meanmaryjean]

I was regaling a new grad the other night as to how things have changed in the 35+ years since I became a nurse.

She was appalled to hear that:

Gloves were for surgery. Only. Yes, we cleaned up messes and changed dressings/ started IVs with our bare hands

The only 'treatment' for hypoplastic left heart was to place the baby in the mother's arms.

We mixed our own TPN.

Benadryl and ibuprofen were only available with a prescription.

PLEASE share you 'back in the day' stories!

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Gloves were degrading to the patient.

We mixed all our own IV fluids and meds.

We suctioned our babies every two hours around the clock and did vitals too.

We gave every patient a bath every AM and changed all the linen every day.

We didn't know about AIDS.

We rounded with the docs and wrote their orders, and then spent the rest of the day hunting them down to sign them!

We wore our caps :)

We put tape over our IV sites not tegaderm, and said tape rode around in your pocket!

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

Dialysis solution came in glass bottles and were heated in bassinets. The only shoes were Clinics and they were very uncomfortable and your panty hose clad feet slipped back and forth in them. Only wore gloves for poop and sterile dressings. Open wards. Ventilated patients in rooms of 4 with one sink and no toilet. Colace and cephalosporins were the latest things. And you never dreamed you'd still be working at 65 because you were never going to be that old.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I still say the old way of keeping pts in Isolation - double bagging, clean nurse, dirty nurse etc, was much better and we should go back to it!

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

oh and let us not forget metal bedpans, that were cleansed and sanituzed in the bed pan hopper

[WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN]

Those bed baths were from the same plastic basin assigned to a patient upon admission as part of his or her kit. After use it was washed out, dried and returned to the bedside table/cubby. Soap was either those small bars of Ivory or Safeguard. It too was used again and again until gone. Cotton washcloths were used for bed baths and cleaning patients after they voided or had a BM in bed. Soiled towels and washcloths (even if fouled with BMs) were all chucked into the same linen bag and sent to the wash.

What sort of facility do you work in now? In many nursing homes this is standard practice and working in the hospital the only difference is that a patient is given a bottle of soap to be used as a shampoo and body soap for the entire stay instead of a bar.

I've always preferred to use washcloths over wet wipes for cleaning patient's BM's. It's so much more effective.

[beckyboo1, BSN, RN]

Those bed baths were from the same plastic basin assigned to a patient upon admission as part of his or her kit. After use it was washed out, dried and returned to the bedside table/cubby. Soap was either those small bars of Ivory or Safeguard. It too was used again and again until gone. Cotton washcloths were used for bed baths and cleaning patients after they voided or had a BM in bed. Soiled towels and washcloths (even if fouled with BMs) were all chucked into the same linen bag and sent to the wash.

We still do our bedbaths that way....how do you do them now? And our linens still all go in the same bag LOL Guess we must be behind the times in our hospital.

[JasBSN]

Going even farther back, I have a few nursing school text books that belonged to a friends grandmother. She'd been a nurse all her adult life and passed away a few years ago in her mid 90's. IV's were only for very very sick patients and the needles were sterilized and reused, any burrs or snags had to be filed down, and the metal needle stayed in the patient. I flipped through the chapter on care of psych patients and yikes!! Water "therapy" and many other treatments unheard of today!

[DoGoodThenGo]

What sort of facility do you work in now? In many nursing homes this is standard practice and working in the hospital the only difference is that a patient is given a bottle of soap to be used as a shampoo and body soap for the entire stay instead of a bar.

I've always preferred to use washcloths over wet wipes for cleaning patient's BM's. It's so much more effective.

Those basins used for patient bed baths have been found to be a major source of infection. Basically they are filth buckets that with each use not only can transfer potentially HAI to patients but lays down a new layer of biofilm that promotes further bacteria growth. Bath Basins as a Source of Hospital-Associated Infections

http://nursing.ouhsc.edu/research/documents/ebp_symposium_2011/pdfs/Team%2032.EBPHillVallier.pdf

Just think about it, would you take a bath in a tub that was used previously without cleaning/scrubbing it out first? When those basins are reused for an entire patient's stay that is pretty much what is happening. If the same basin is used for cleaning after a BM it adds even more "fun" stuff.

Usually such basins aren't thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before reuse, merely emptied and often just rinsed out.

This is one of the reasons behind "waterless" bed baths and or using disposable wet wipes and or several towels with water and cleanser.

[beckyboo1, BSN, RN]

Those basins used for patient bed baths have been found to be a major source of infection. Basically they are filth buckets that with each use not only can transfer potentially HAI to patients but lays down a new layer of biofilm that promotes further bacteria growth. Bath Basins as a Source of Hospital-Associated Infections

http://nursing.ouhsc.edu/research/documents/ebp_symposium_2011/pdfs/Team 32.EBPHillVallier.pdf

Just think about it, would you take a bath in a tub that was used previously without cleaning/scrubbing it out first? When those basins are reused for an entire patient's stay that is pretty much what is happening. If the same basin is used for cleaning after a BM it adds even more "fun" stuff.

Usually such basins aren't thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before reuse, merely emptied and often just rinsed out.

This is one of the reasons behind "waterless" bed baths and or using disposable wet wipes and or several towels with water and cleanser.

Probably all true, but I'd rather have a bath in a cleaned out basin than a so-called "bath" of wet wipes

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Under NO circumstances does ANYONE say ANYTHING to the nurse assigned to pass meds.

Orderlies ONLY cared for male patients.

Private rooms were for the well-off.

There was a charge to be paid to have the TV turned on in the room.

Report was given by the charge nurses only; everybody else just gathered around and listened. At the end of the report, the charge nurse used her bandage scissors to cut up the report sheet and handed us our assignments.

We could count the number of male nurses (both of them), in the entire hospital.

Do not punch the time clock if you don't have your nursing cap.

Hibiclenz was the modern day hand sanitizer.

MRSA? What's MRSA?

Penicillin was the antibiotic of choice for practically everything.

IVs were started with stainless steel needles, no plastic to remain after retraction.

[Cohiba]

Probably all true, but I'd rather have a bath in a cleaned out basin than a so-called "bath" of wet wipes

I'd rather have a wet-wipe "bath" then get C.Diff/E.Coli from a cleaned out basin...

[WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN]

Those basins used for patient bed baths have been found to be a major source of infection. Basically they are filth buckets that with each use not only can transfer potentially HAI to patients but lays down a new layer of biofilm that promotes further bacteria growth. Bath Basins as a Source of Hospital-Associated Infections

http://nursing.ouhsc.edu/research/documents/ebp_symposium_2011/pdfs/Team 32.EBPHillVallier.pdf

Just think about it, would you take a bath in a tub that was used previously without cleaning/scrubbing it out first? When those basins are reused for an entire patient's stay that is pretty much what is happening. If the same basin is used for cleaning after a BM it adds even more "fun" stuff.

Usually such basins aren't thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before reuse, merely emptied and often just rinsed out.

This is one of the reasons behind "waterless" bed baths and or using disposable wet wipes and or several towels with water and cleanser.

So many places (I don't know of any facilities that do waterless baths) still use basins I don't think that it's a "back in the day" kind of thing. Maybe in another 5 years.

It's not like the basins are used from patient to patient. I have taken baths after other people and sometimes used their old water too but that was my own family. I'm thinking I'll wipe down basins with those sanitizer wipes after each use now. Thanks for the info!