remember when...

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Remember when....? I remember treating pressure ulcers with Maalox and (something) and using heat lamps. I would like to see more examples.

Specializes in Cardiac.
As mentioned on another, similar thread Yes, white uniforms, and they better be crisp and ironed! White stockings under your skirt, and those ugly nurse mates oxford shoes. Even as a NA and a student nurse, we were expected to look "professional and super white". For years after leaving nursing school (to have a baby), I did not wear white anything! Now that I am back to work, all my scrubs are blues, greens, and purples.

I also remember the "no gloves except for a sterile field" rule. We were not supposed to make any pt. feel like we were not willing to touch them. Oh, and having to do the blood sugar. HORRIFIED at what was considered a reading "1+ 2+ 3+" Man, having had two diabetic parents, I cringe now.

As a student nurse, I also remember the lectures about "you represent the nursing profession. Do not be seen out at bars and running around town. Pt. families may see you and think less of nursing" This was 27 years ago. Imagine, now there is Facebook to worry about!

There was no such thing as HIPAA. We talked about pts. to anyone and told families and friends anything. We were expected to answer all questions. Man, now if you leave the room without resetting your portable vitals to zero, you get written up for making information available to anyone. Things have changed so much.

Oh, and if you still have a unit secretary, count yourself as blessed.

wow... those were the dark ages! lol

Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych, Tele, ICU.

Betadine and sugar were used for decub care.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Oh, yeah, those nursing caps! Ours had such a winged-dip and swoop, you could put someone's eye out in a crowded elevator without even trying. Mom was an RN who did PDN night-shift ; I remember her dipping her cloth cap in starch and after partially drying it, ironing it into shape. And I was always glad I didn't have to wear an upsidedown cupcake-holder on the top of my head! We didn't consider those to be very "Nurse-y" !

I'm so old that I used to smoke in the nurses station while charting. Can you even imagine? For the record, I gave up that nasty habit years ago. Hey we used to have to make room assignments based on if the patient smoked, and I remember putting clean ash trays on the over bed table. I wonder what the new grads will be talking about 25 years from now.

Specializes in Cardiac.
I'm so old that I used to smoke in the nurses station while charting. Can you even imagine? For the record, I gave up that nasty habit years ago. Hey we used to have to make room assignments based on if the patient smoked, and I remember putting clean ash trays on the over bed table. I wonder what the new grads will be talking about 25 years from now.

Even with pts on oxygen?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?! :eek:

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I can answer that! The people on O2 were in 'no smoking' rooms. ...and there were no wall-units to plug into, it was all tanks. Plus, there were cigt. machines in the lobby, cafeteria entrance and sometimes near the elevators on each floor. Didn't want ya to have to go too far to get your smokes, y'know.

I wonder if anyone had this years ago. I was a student and the buretrol was just starting to

get out on mass. Before this it was a pouch device that held 10cc of fluid and there were five I think in a row under the IV bag.

Who remembers this?

I can answer that! The people on O2 were in 'no smoking' rooms. ...and there were no wall-units to plug into, it was all tanks. Plus, there were cigt. machines in the lobby, cafeteria entrance and sometimes near the elevators on each floor. Didn't want ya to have to go too far to get your smokes, y'know.

OMG! I remember wrestling with those 2200# O2 tanks in LTC! You had to have had your Wheaties to lug the darned things down the hall in their dollies, position them in the resident's room, "crack" the tank (if you were lucky that it cooperated), thread all the gauges and humidifiers and tubing, and, all before the resident went into respiratory arrest! I'll confess to swearing under my breath when I had dragged a tank all the way down the hall to a room, only to find out it was EMPTY; being unable to crack a tank at all, even though I was a farm girl and pretty strong; and being unable to attach flow gauges et al because the threads were stripped!!! I usually worked charge on 3-11 or 11-7, so, of course, no maintenance supervisor on hand to help.

Now, looking back, it amazes me that the residents never went up to the ceiling when the tanks were cracked. The noise was enough to raise the dead.

Ah, the good old days . . .:uhoh3::eek::eek::uhoh3:

Autoclaving reusable equipment at the end of the shift. :)

Paraldehyde for seizures (rubber tubing and glass syringe)

Was it Maalox and Betadine?

Soaking oral and rectal thermometers (separately :D) in antibacterial solution, and using them on whoever?

NO gloves unless there was some hazmat situation. OR a SERIOUS code brown.

Washing wheelchairs like a car wash in the tub room on nights :D

:eek:

I remember is was mandatory to wear the flying nun nursing hat. I was giving so much grief because I hated wearing it. It used to fall off into all kinds of messes, patients would pull at it and it would always get caught in the curtains.

:uhoh3::uhoh3::down: In LPN clinical, we had to wear the #&@%ed cap. To be properly placed, we had to thread either folded Kleenex, or a strip of cloth through the tab inside, then bobby-pin onto our scalp (OUCH!!) If needed, we could pin the back of the cap in place, too. I swear that my hair is thin on top because I had my cap grabbed and torn off so many times. (DOUBLE OUCH!!!:crying2:) My classmates also went through the same torture. . . yes, the cap is an emblem of our being nurses, but the caps were a target to confused patients, too.

Remember when....? I remember treating pressure ulcers with Maalox and (something) and using heat lamps. I would like to see more examples.

:confused: I remember using sugar and Betadine on decubiti, then using a hair blow-dryer on cool to promote healing, especially on decubiti of the buttocks. I also remember positioning the patient in Sim's, then using tape to hold the patient's buttocks open for this treatment.:eek:

Also, remember when Duoderm came out?? Working in LTC, we had some pretty bony elderly ladies. I remember changing those patches on 11-7 shift, labeling them "A", "B", "C" and so on to document the stages of healing of each decubiti. The lady I'm thinking of was up to "G"! :crying2:

Before anyone comments that residents weren't on a turn schedule, believe me they were!

anyone remember sorbisand? or cholesteimine mixed with aquqphor? (It smelled great, like an orange and was used on pediatric diaper rash.

I also remeber a dermatologist telling us to not bath a baby but use only cetafil on her. finally after about a month, a nurse said "I can't stand it anymore, I'm giving this kid a bath." That little one soaked and kicked and loved his bath, so much so we kept sneaking one in on night shift. The dermatologist stopped in and saw his little pt. He said to his audience of residents. "you see how much better her skin is without the bathing, just wipe down with cetaphil." He smiled benignly at the nurses and said. "They didn't believe me, but now they do.

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