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!

[tinyonern]

All babies went to the nursery during visiting hours and at night. Breast feeding was frowned on. A baby was NEVER put on their back to sleep. Actually, one place I worked babies only went out to moms at feeding time, on a schedule.

Hands and feet were last resort IV sites for sick neonates, head preferred site and butterfly needles were used.

Isolettes were washed every tHree days, and the nurses did the washing. We used glass thermometers. Babies less than 1500 grams were weighted by placing them in a sling, with the scale on top of the lsolette and hooking them on to the scale thru the hole in the top of the isolette (we accidentally extubated kids on a regular basis). We used plastic wrap "blankets" and medicine cups with cotton balls and water to provide humitiy. Baby Bird vents had stop watches hanging from them so inspiration time could be counted and you had to know how to figure I:E ratios...nurses freq had to make own vent changes. A baby Less than 28 wks and/or 1000 gms frequently didn't live.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

geesh ..ye be 1 of the few here..older tha I....

I remember a vigorous discussion in the letters to the editor of the AJN regarding use of clean gloves when cleaning up an incontinent patient. We used clean gloves when caring for patients with Hepatitis (on "contact isolation") and, of course, for patients on strict isolation. One demonstration I was assigned in my fundamentals course was the correct procedure for reusing fabric isolation gowns for an entire shift. Donning the gown without one's bare hands touching the outside of the gown except for the "clean" ties at the neck, removing the gown without touching the outside except the "clean" ties at the neck with one's ungloved hands. Hanging the gown on an IV pole outside the room with the inside facing out ready for the next user.

Almost all medications in "bulk supply" containers; Valium not a controlled substance because it "wasn't addictive or likely to be abused"; rainbow coverage insulin therapy based on the Clinitest and Acetest tests we did on the patient's urine; no glucometers; the "whack it hard" type addressograph machines to stamp lab sheets with as well as the chart pages with the patient's name and MR number, etc.; night shift charting that too often read "Quiet night, sleeping when checked q 2 hrs.". Charting in black on days, green on evenings, and red on nights. No blue ink because it didn't show well on microfiche. Knowing that medical records discarded every bit of the nurses notes after the patient was discharged.

Pagers were the latest and greatest and quite the status symbol. Only the nursing supervisors, interns and residents carried them. Starting IVs with regular metal injection needles. Butterfly needles being more the standard. Not being allowed to discontinue short plastic IV catheters (Jelcos, back then) because "the tip might break off and become an embolus and the intern will be able to detect and place a tourniquet to prevent it from getting to the heart and then to the lung". Nurses being sent home to put on a uniform when they arrived at work wearing one of those new "pant suit uniforms" -- in the San Francisco Bay area in California.

Those were NOT the "good old days" for me, though I've known nurses who were sure things were better then.

BSN, graduated Friday, June 13, 1969 -- LOL

[tinyonern]

How about having to wear your cap and white uniforms, absolutely no pants (even on the rehab floor).

[monkeybug]

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.

It was somehow satisfying to smack that thing down on a page. It was great for getting out frustrations!

[DoGoodThenGo]

All babies went to the nursery during visiting hours and at night. Breast feeding was frowned on. A baby was NEVER put on their back to sleep. Actually, one place I worked babies only went out to moms at feeding time, on a schedule.

Hands and feet were last resort IV sites for sick neonates, head preferred site and butterfly needles were used.

Isolettes were washed every tHree days, and the nurses did the washing. We used glass thermometers. Babies less than 1500 grams were weighted by placing them in a sling, with the scale on top of the lsolette and hooking them on to the scale thru the hole in the top of the isolette (we accidentally extubated kids on a regular basis). We used plastic wrap "blankets" and medicine cups with cotton balls and water to provide humitiy. Baby Bird vents had stop watches hanging from them so inspiration time could be counted and you had to know how to figure I:E ratios...nurses freq had to make own vent changes. A baby Less than 28 wks and/or 1000 gms frequently didn't live.

The changes on maternity/mother and baby floors over the years have been nothing but extraordinary. We've gone from running things more for the convenience of the nursing staff to a mother, baby and family centered approach.

Remember reading a posting somewhere about a woman who had her first baby "back then" and the hospital ran the sort of system outlined above. She only got to hold and see her baby when it was brought out for feeding, otherwise it was "locked up" in the nursery. One day she got up out of bed and took a walk over the nursery to see her baby crying and longed to hold him, but that wasn't allowed. So all she could do was watch him cry for her and the nurses attend to the wee baby.

You have to wonder how much damage was done to some women in those first few days when they should have been bonding with their babies instead of being treated is if they had just recovered from a mortal illness and the infant had to be protected.

[DoGoodThenGo]

It was somehow satisfying to smack that thing down on a page. It was great for getting out frustrations!

Long as one to remember to keep fingers and or hands clear.

[KCMnurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

I remember having to shake down glass thermometers after some idiot washed them in HOT water. Catching mercury on sheets of paper after dropping said thermometers on the floor. First clinical was male surgical ward. Post prostatectomy emptying gallons of bladder irrigation all night long. Same jug for everyone and certainly no gloves. God forbid I got behind and a catheter bag burst. I would have a rose colored river running down the ward. Ah yes, those were the days

[Elle23]

When I was an LVN working med/surg 22 years ago, we still wore the crisp white nursing uniforms. Some of the older nurses still wore caps!

That was also back when we all wore those huge white clunky franken-shoes made just for nurses (most comfortable shoes I ever owned!)

20 years ago when I sat for my RN boards, the test was on....PAPER! And it took 8 loooong weeks to get the results in the mail! There was no shutoff at 75 questions....we had to answer every single question no matter what!

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

the hospital that I got a job at has SEVERAL nurses that I saw (on the hospital tour) that still wear white dresses with hose and caps!

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

the hospital that I got a job at has SEVERAL nurses that I saw (on the hospital tour) that still wear white dresses with hose and caps!

i promise it was not me, only in my nursing homes

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

I didn't read all the posts, but what I remember and HATED, was tying the sheets onto the bed. We had to "tie" the top, then "tie" the bottom, because the sheets were not fitted back then, because the nylon or whatever it was, would break down in the Clorox wash. The sheets would finally shrink, and the mattress would bow up after you managed to tie them!

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

The best thing about the "good ole days" in nursing, was that the nurse was actually in charge of the patient's care, not the family like it is now! Today, we have to make the patient's extended family/social network happy, instead of simply taking care of the patient.