You Might Be An "old" School Nurse

[DoGoodThenGo]

From Scrubs magazine.

http://scrubsmag.com/you-might-be-an-ol-school-nurse-if/

Enjoy and feel free to add your own ideas of what makes one old school.

10. You still abbreviate everything.

9. You enjoy giving IM Demerol vs. pain pumps.

8. You're older than the doctors you work with.

7. You tell the whining new nurses that you took care of 30 pt. vs. 6.

6. "Treatment Nurse," "Med Wound Nurse"...what is that? You did it all!

5. You'll give your patients a bedpan and don't wait for an aide.

4. Your starting salary was $3.50/hour when factory workers made $5.

3. The way you checked sugar levels was with a dipstick.

2. You don't recognize the sound of an IV pump (you never used them).

1. You wore white caps, uniform, shoes and hose, and NEVER wore them in public.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Wow, ya'll are making me feel youngish!

I do remember the blue dye, though.

Most of all though I remember what it was like pre-PG. Ah, the good ol' days when you didn't have your "scores" in your face EVERY SINGLE SHIFT.

NO kidding- the advent of nurses as concierges has been horrendous. There are spas for those requiring ridiculous treatments. It's very nice when a facility offers alternative therapies (massage, aromatherapy, etc)..... but if someone wanted me to sit in there room all day, doing piddly stuff (moving kleenex boxes that they were perfectly capable of moving - not a hemiplegic who actually CAN'T do it....etc) I'm a bit put out. I'll bend over backwards to help people who can't do things for themselves, or don't know how to do... but the almost ready for d/c who can't wipe their own butt (and are going home alone w/blessings from everyone....uh....NO

Then to get "graded" by people who don't know what nursing does is such an insult, and personally, I think it's dragging down the images of nurses in general....JMHO

[elkpark]

Yup, I'm definitely "old school."

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

xtxrn...

One of my favorite passive aggressive things to do with those "helpless" individuals is to explain to them, very earnestly, that so as to not put my license on the line I'm getting case mgmt involved with their care. "Clearly if you were able to care for yourself prior to admit and you now are not able to perform basic hygiene, for your own safety we need to investigate placing you in a skilled facility where the staff can attend to your needs. It just wouldn't be safe to semd you home unable to care for yourself...what if you got hurt trying to take care of yourself? I just don't want to worry about you after you're discharged." You'd be amazed at the miraculous recovery that takes place.

Back to the old-school...do you remember when nurses didn't have to have triple-majored in nursing, IT, and photography? I'm young enough that I'm comfortable with the computer and digital camera, but some of our older nurses seem to have a mental block. And I'm getting really tiered of taking more butt shots than an amateur Media photographer...remember way back when just documenting appearance and measurements was enough? And when you didn't need special training to stage a wound?

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

xtxrn...

One of my favorite passive aggressive things to do with those "helpless" individuals is to explain to them, very earnestly, that so as to not put my license on the line I'm getting case mgmt involved with their care. "Clearly if you were able to care for yourself prior to admit and you now are not able to perform basic hygiene, for your own safety we need to investigate placing you in a skilled facility where the staff can attend to your needs. It just wouldn't be safe to semd you home unable to care for yourself...what if you got hurt trying to take care of yourself? I just don't want to worry about you after you're discharged." You'd be amazed at the miraculous recovery that takes place.

Back to the old-school...do you remember when nurses didn't have to have triple-majored in nursing, IT, and photography? I'm young enough that I'm comfortable with the computer and digital camera, but some of our older nurses seem to have a mental block. And I'm getting really tiered of taking more butt shots than an amateur Media photographer...remember way back when just documenting appearance and measurements was enough? And when you didn't need special training to stage a wound?

Yeah- I've used the "if you're this helpless, I really need to get social services in to see you" :) With adolescent psych, some of them were at the station ALL the time. I started issuing "tickets" - they could come one time per hour, that didn't interfere with group, and meds weren't counted. If they ran out of tickets, they had to go through the tech first (had some great techs:)). I worked weekends, so they were a bit more laid back with the schedule. If they bugged me beyond reason, I gave writing assignments that drove them nuts... compliance by annoyance

And yes- the clear plastic sheets w/a bullseye of circles, to get the measurements. A sterile Q-tip to check the depth... and a pen to write it all down :) I loved doing treatments and wound care. I remember when Duoderm was NEW !!!

[donsterRN, ASN, BSN]

Manual crank beds

Glass IV bottles, suction containers and chest tube recepticles

Counting narcs at change of shift

Team nursing with a separate charge and med nurse

Paper and pencil Kardexes that you were expected to update every shift

and the ever popular

Smoking at the nurses station...

[bagladyrn, RN]

Medication cards and the tray to hold all the little med cups.

Accidentally going home with the med cards or the narcotic keys in your pocket and having to turn around and drive right back. (I sure don't miss that!)

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

If someone left w/keys at one hospital I worked at, they immediately changed the locks on the narc drawer, called the nurse to return the keys, and made her life a light-hearted h*ll for a week...:) They had reasons to be freaked. But, it was a bit of overkill when so few of us handled the keys (generally the charge nurse, since a witness was needed a lot of the time, and the floor nurse would ask the charge to open the drawer, and have a witness already there)..... it worked for that facility :)

[bagladyrn, RN]

If someone left w/keys at one hospital I worked at, they immediately changed the locks on the narc drawer, called the nurse to return the keys, and made her life a light-hearted h*ll for a week...:) They had reasons to be freaked. But, it was a bit of overkill when so few of us handled the keys (generally the charge nurse, since a witness was needed a lot of the time, and the floor nurse would ask the charge to open the drawer, and have a witness already there)..... it worked for that facility :)

I particularly hated when I would do this as I lived at that time about 45 miles from the hospital and (pre cell phone) would invariably discover I had the narc keys when I heard them "jingle" as I went to change out of my scrubs at home!

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

That would not be fun :)

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Anybody else remember tying the sheets behind the head and foot of the bed to keep them on straight because there were no fitted sheets?

Or, getting behind the head of the bed, and grabbing the underpad (cloth) or drawsheet and pulling it from the sides to move the patient up in bed because there was nobody around for miles to help???

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Determining glucose levels were determined by the amt of sugar in the urine. We'd add a pill, wait for the urine to change colour and then compare the colour to a chart. Scary!

Smoking at the nurses station. Pts smoking in bed.

Visiting hours were actually obeyed! I miss that.