Crusty Old Bats

[Been there,done that]

Share your ancient memories. One of mine is Kardexes.  We used them in report.  Updated them with pencil and eraser ! 

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Been there,done that said:

It is a position change that the bed can do. The knees are bent at a 90 degree angle.   It relieves  pressure  off the core. It can relieve pain following  any kind of abdominal surgery.

Yup, I know. I was just picturing newbies saying,"Do WHAT?" ?

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

offlabel said:

Dial-a-flow

Still use those in LTC 

[H G]

Sooooo many memories!
White dresses, hose and shoes. We only had to wear caps in nursing school (ours looked like French maid caps) but they tried to make us wear them again where I worked 5 years later (~1981) so patients, docs, etc would know who was an RN.

Which reminds me of the name tags. Now it's an ID usually on a lanyard with "RN" in big letters and first name in smaller text only for safety.

No gloves except for sterile procedures and isolation patients depending on the infection. Had a kardex for each disease that described what precautions if any were to be taken. No Universal Precautions.

Going on meal break with the smell of BM on my hands that wouldn't wash off. Nurses wouldn't understand that today.

I worked at SFGH (now named after that facebook guy) in the 80s when AIDS came around. Worked on the AIDS ward at times. No gloves in the beginning. Needle box in the med room only, and as a per diem, I wasn't allowed keys in the beginning. Got poked by used a needle twice.

Later, going home with the keys and having to drive the 1-2 hours back after a 12 hour night shift.

Nowadays, I don't recognize the meds people are on...

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

H G said:

 

Later, going home with the keys and having to drive the 1-2 hours back after a 12 hour night shift.

 

The keys! Thankfully we don't have them any longer!! Long live badge passes, push button locks and security codes!!

I remember the keys being lost and all care being abandoned as the entire staff embarked on a massive key hunt - usually they'd been inadvertantly thrown in a bin. Sadly there were no chocolate Easter eggs to be found in our hunt!

When I worked in the UK holding the keys was the sign of being the nurse in charge and there was great importance attached to it. At the end of report there'd be this ceremonial handing over of keys between nurses in charge from finishing shift to oncoming shift. Sometimes it was done with such pomp and ceremony you'd think the oncoming nurse in charge was being crowned Queen. So ridiculous! 

[H G]

Oh! Narcotic count!

One nurse each from the oncoming and off going shifts had to count every tablet, capsule and cc. It had better not be off.

I had one manager that insisted the oncoming shift arrive 15 minutes before they clocked in for the count.

[toomuchbaloney]

H G said:

Oh! Narcotic count!

One nurse each from the oncoming and off going shifts had to count every tablet, capsule and cc. It had better not be off.

I had one manager that insisted the oncoming shift arrive 15 minutes before they clocked in for the count.

And they didn't want to pay that 15 minutes at some facilities.  

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Metal bedpans.  The giant med carts with the pills on those bubble cards, even a one-time dose would be delivered from the pharmacy with 1 pill on a 30 count big old card.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

DavidFR said:

Reading blood sugars manually off a colour chart. 

Testing urines at bedtime in test tubes with tablets that turned color for different levels. "Blue-negative" was the best. 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

offlabel said:

Dial-a-flow

Oh my, I remember when the Dial-a-flows came in. They were hot stuff. We had had pumps with little stretchy parts in the IV tubing; a roller squeezed the fluid down the IV but we had to count the drops. In our ICU we sent away and got stopwatches— click for one drop, then at the next = shows gtts/min on the dial. We still had to check on the dial-a-flows, though. 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

NutmeggeRN said:

Demerol and Phenergan in the carpujects

I still have my stainless tubex injector somewhere, NOT plastic, AND my set of locked leather restraint keys! 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

londonflo said:

IV pumps were only used for TPN and blood. Sometimes you'd have a 'runaway IV' even though you counted the drips per minute you would come in an hour and the liter bag was half gone or dry! Buretrols in pediatrics where you diluted the antibiotic and ran small amounts only. Tagamet IVPB the new wonder H2 Receptor Antagonist was q 4 hours. Demerol IM.……..

…….

We never used pumps on blood— they told us it would create hemolysis. We had online burettes in the blood tubing and kept track of how many cc's that way, 100cc at a time. 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Sue MacEachern said:

Heavy cloth things in hot water for hot packs 

 

Hydrocollator! When I was an aide I got to clean those. After a few years of nobody else cleaning them there was a thick tan sludge in the bottom.