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!

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Yes, work used to be so much more fun. Much less drama.

I was thinking on the way to work this am that we don't see many Barium Enemas anymore. Remember them? Such fun. Bowel prep for like 3 days. Pt would have the test. And then you would have to give them even more laxs to make sure all the Barium was passed. Because if it didnt... wow, man, did that stuff turn to cement!

For triple contrast CT's? I've never heard of a 3 day bowel prep. What did that involve?

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

A Barium Enema, or Barium Swallow was an xray done to look at the GI system.

Pt would swallow the Barium (Yum!) (NOT!) and an xray would be take to "see the gi tract". Or Barium would be given as an enema, and again, an xray would be taken to "see" the colon, etc.

Yeah - about a 3 day prep, starting with a fluid diet about 2 or 3 days, then bowel prep.

We often started IVs on the pt because they go so dehyrated.

Both these tests have replaced with scopes now.

[tewdles, RN]

I still have fun when working as a nurse...

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Am I the only one that remembers sheepskins for pressure relief? I don't mean those synthetic fleecey ones on a jersey backing, I mean real sheep skins, wool on leather. Run those through the hospital laundry and they were like lying on gravel. I stole one once when I was a nurses aide (remember before we had charge slips for every supply item?) and my cat wouldn't even sleep on it.

Ice machines in the basement.

Purulent urine on everyone because we opened the drainage systems q shift for I&O, and poured them into stainless beakers to measure. The same beaker. For the whole ward.

Hydrocollator packs.

Black pens for 7-3, green for 3-11, red for 11-7.

Nondisposable sterile towels (another great theft target)

Nondisposable scissors and Kelly clamps (ditto)

Glass syringes with the barrels coded to the plungers

Glass thermometers

Glass mercury sphygmomanometers

CVP manometers with methylene blue in them

Managing open hearts with a single-lumen CVP, one peripheral line for blood, and an arterial line hooked up to a dial manometer for MAP

And we DID have fun!

[SusanRN82]

Back in the day, I worked pm shift on a surgical unit. It was all primary care - all RNs. When patients were discharged, we cleaned the metal bedpans before returning to central processing. At the end of the shift, we had to make sure all the ashtrays were emptied and cleaned. IVs were in glass bottles and we had to mix all our own piggybacks. H2O2 was always used to clean surgical wounds and heat lamps were used to treat pressure ulcers.

[tinyonern]

Team nursing...you had about 40 patients per unit with (generally) two teams; each had a RN team leader, several aides and a med nurse. There was a charge nurse over all. Also a ward clerk who would transcript orders on to the Kardex which the charge nurse would then check and sign off the orders. Orders in triplicate, white for chart, pink for pharmacy and yellow for nurse. No blue ink in charts; black green and red only. Floor stock for meds, no night pharmacy.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

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. :)

[Destiny'skid]

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!

[amoLucia]

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. :)

Hey! I do, too!

[Hancock330]

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

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

A Barium Enema, or Barium Swallow was an xray done to look at the GI system.

Pt would swallow the Barium (Yum!) (NOT!) and an xray would be take to "see the gi tract". Or Barium would be given as an enema, and again, an xray would be taken to "see" the colon, etc.

Yeah - about a 3 day prep, starting with a fluid diet about 2 or 3 days, then bowel prep.

We often started IVs on the pt because they go so dehyrated.

Both these tests have replaced with scopes now.

Scopes haven't completely replaced barium swallows, at least for patients with achalasia.

[DoGoodThenGo]

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

You rock girl! *LOL*