Back in the day......

Nurses General Nursing

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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!

The whole gloves thing is interesting it seems some nurses still think this way. My cna instructor told us not to wear gloves unless we came in direct contact with the patient because it would make them feel bad. Later on I was taught to wear gloves whenever you touch a patient or linens. If its ever bothered them they have never shown it![/quote']

Found back in my day the trick was to simply put on the gloves in a very matter of fact way, that is not to make a production like actors do when they are going to obviously harm someone. If you act as if it is casual patients (IMHO) either don't notice or don't care. Most are that happy someone is cleaning them up to bother with "what is she doing with those gloves?" type questions.

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Five beautiful words to evening shift: "Visiting Hours Are Now Over" *LOL*

When those lovely words came over the intercom we gave families a bit of time to say their pieces then start making for the elevators. Of course some didn't take the hint then whomever was in charge (or could muster the most attitude) went in and gave a firm but polite bum's rush.

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Did most of my days in Catholic hospitals and can remember still how a death of a patient was handled.

All visitors were shooed out of the halls, doors to patient rooms were closed, if it was a semi or four person room all curtains around occupied beds were drawn, then quietly transport would remove the deceased to the morgue.

Oh and nurse's could not say "death", "dead" or "expired" as those were considered medical diagnoses. So you got "it appears the patient is no longer breathing". This would cause all sorts of problems say if the family of a just deceased person rang up the nurse's station requesting status information.

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Whoops duplicate post.

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I was fortunate to come across a "Nursing Procedures" manual (second edition) from 1928 issued by Mercy School of Nursing (here in Pittsburgh, PA) at an antique shop. It includes instructions on Lysol douches, turpentine enemas and IV infusions (only done by docs)... Covers the 4 main solutions of the time: NA, dextrose, NaHCO3 and anticoagulation prep of citrate & dextrose. The string test for dx of ulcers, colon irrigation & rectal infusion/instillation... Bladder irrigation solutions include boric acid, formalin, silver nitrate, bichloride of mercury, iodine. Instructions on various plasters & poultices. Post mortem care is interesting- more bichloride of mercury & pack the orifices with cotton. Post op care was intense. And of course there are instructions on the basics... Bathing, mouth care, bed making, cleaning urinals, etc. Every aspect of nursing care in this book is fascinating... Some so different, some not very different at all... And very little on CHARTING! :D

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I was fortunate to come across a "Nursing Procedures" manual (second edition) from 1928 issued by Mercy School of Nursing (here in Pittsburgh, PA) at an antique shop. It includes instructions on Lysol douches, turpentine enemas and IV infusions (only done by docs)... Covers the 4 main solutions of the time: NA, dextrose, NaHCO3 and anticoagulation prep of citrate & dextrose. The string test for dx of ulcers, colon irrigation & rectal infusion/instillation... Bladder irrigation solutions include boric acid, formalin, silver nitrate, bichloride of mercury, iodine. Instructions on various plasters & poultices. Post mortem care is interesting- more bichloride of mercury & pack the orifices with cotton. Post op care was intense. And of course there are instructions on the basics... Bathing, mouth care, bed making, cleaning urinals, etc. Every aspect of nursing care in this book is fascinating... Some so different, some not very different at all... And very little on CHARTING! :D

Boric acid, formalin, silver nitrate, bichloride of mercury, iodine et al were pretty much all there was in terms of "antibiotics" and skin sanitizing before the arrival of penicillin and modern antibacterial skin cleansers. There was also of course Lysol "phenol" which was used in everything from bath/toilet soaps (Lifebuoy) to skin preps.

Lysol douches were used for everything from L&D (cotton applicators and balls were soaked in the stuff and inserted just prior the head emerging) to routine feminine hygiene to keep one's nether region from offending and thus keeping hubby *away*.

Also remember reading a 1920's manual on nursing care and when it came to post mortem care some nurses drew the line it seems. This was for home (private duty) nurses so the book gave instructions for the lady of the house how to prepare the body.

When you read these sort of manuals it comes to you how far nursing has changed. Those nurses were strictly task orientated for the most part. You did what you were told how you were instructed to do it with little theory and rationale about it.

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Specializes in Gerontology.

Testing urine for sugar levels and giving insulin by that. Scary!

Med tickets. Med rooms stocked with large bottles of pills.

Reusable dressing and catheter trays.

Choles were a major surgery, post op NG tubes, keeping pt NPO until they farted! I remember dragging pts to walk up and down the hall to get things moving again!

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Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.
Instead of pt stickers to put on pages we had metal plates with the name and number punch typed in; really noisy machine in admissions. You put the metal plate in a credit card type roller, and ran the inker over it to mark the page, the lab slips, everything. Smeared and unreadable sometimes, you had to practice to get good at clear impressions consistently.[/quote']

I remember those!! Now we have a beautiful label maker!

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0_0 oh my, this is just so fascinating! I likey! I likey! Keep it coming!

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You know, there's this old grande dame of a nurse on my floor who always circles meds/treatments for 7-3 with black ink, ones for 3-11 with green ink and ones for 11-7 with red ink. I always assumed it was just some random weirdness on her part. Interesting to know it actually has some basis in ancient nursing culture. :)

Ooooh, ouch. That hurt.

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Ooooh, ouch. That hurt.

I was hoping the little smiley face thingie would tip off that "grande dame" and "ancient nursing culture" were meant in pure jest.

I really did think this nurse circling different shifts' meds in different colors was just a unique eccentricity of hers. It really was interesting to find out that this was likely a holdover from what was probably standard practice back in the day.

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I was hoping the little smiley face thingie would tip off that "grande dame" and "ancient nursing culture" were meant in pure jest.

I really did think this nurse circling different shifts' meds in different colors was just a unique eccentricity of hers. It really was interesting to find out that this was likely a holdover from what was probably standard practice back in the day.

Yes, all documentation on day shift was done in black ink. All documentation for evening shift green, and all documentation for night shift in red. Pre EMR days gone by.....

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