Differences: Nursing then and now...

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Jul 1, 2008

Is this an assignment?

astig_matic · Jul 1, 2008

Hello Valerie,

No, t's not an assignment, it's more of a curious fascination with how it was then. Maybe it's just me, I've noticed that most of our instructors say that nurses now are different than how they were in their day.

becembrie · Jul 1, 2008

What exactly is THEN?:chuckle

Debra ACRN · Jul 1, 2008

When I graduated in 1983, we did pirmary care nursing. The patients stayed longer in the hospital so not every patient was needy. I smoked in the nurses station (I have been smoke free for 19 years). I think we were more respected, I never remember having words with a patient or family member........it just seemed more civil.

Grace Oz · Jul 2, 2008

Well for starters, the wages were MUCH lower than what nurses earn today! Even allowing for inflation etc, we earnt a pittance in the 1960's.

We wore uniforms. Stiff, starched, UNCOMFORTABLE uniforms! lol AND ... with an apron over the uniform dress! lol

We wore caps on our head.

Stockings and lace up leather shoes.

Stiff starched cuffs on the end of our sleeves!

We were ALWAYS called NURSE. Never by our christian name. Not EVER! It wasn't allowed!

We called our patients Mr or Mrs or Miss. NEVER more informal or familiar than that.

We did more "domestic" work than nurses do today.

For example; on a late shift, the nurses had to set out and prepare and serve the afternoon tea. LOL

We didn't have lifting machines back in "those" days. Hence why so many of my generation of nurses have back problems.

Patients looked up to nurses and we were held in high esteem and shown enormous respect. (Well, in AUSTRALIA we were!) :)

We lived in nurses quarters within the hospital grounds and had wonderful fun when off duty with our colleagues. The companionship was ever present and when one needed to vent, laugh, cry, share whatever, there was usually someone around the nurses home to do that with.

After a late shift, or any shift for that matter, gathering in the nurses home kitchen making tons of toast and coffee or tea and sharing the events of the completed shift. Counselling each other as necessary. Supporting each other with study and assingments etc.

The friendships forged still remain today 40 years later! :)

You never felt abandoned on the ward. Someone always stepped in to help and everyone took responsibility for answering bells, attending to a patient etc. None of this; "Oh, He/she's not MY patient!"

If you were ahead with your workload, you helped others with theirs and no-one went off duty until everyone had finished and we walked off the floor TOGETHER!

There was the downside to how we were treated at times by some members of the medical fraternity. Those individuals thought they were above the rest of us in the health profession, and tended to elevate themselves to fanciful lofty heights.

My experience has been that this persists today. However, as a word of encouragement to younger nurses; the older you become, the more fearless you become! lol With age and experience, you learn how to handle the jerks and wannabe's. You're not as easily intimidated by those who seek to laud it over you by the mere fact they're a doctor or somesuch.

There's probably a "million" other ways the profession is different today as compared to yesterday, I hope these I've listed helps you gain some insight into how it was "Back then!" :)

astig_matic · Jul 2, 2008

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. At least now, I have and idea of what my instructors call "the good 'ol days."

quetepye · Jul 10, 2008

No more stories? I'm a student too, and I LOVE hearing these! We have instructors who tell us about the days when they had to wear dresses, caps, and tights to school, back when hospitals were the schools, and how they were appalled when they learned they had to start using gloves. (Explains why sometimes you'll catch a nurse ripping off a finger or two of the glove before she puts in an IV or draws blood... bad!) To us, we can't even imagine not using gloves, etc. It's amazing. One of the hospitals we have a lot of clinicals at has a whole mini "nursing museum" because they used to be one of the nicest nursing schools in the area and it's so cool just to even look at all of the equipment you used to use. I love hearing your stories!!

MajitaRN · Jul 16, 2008

No more stories? I'm a student too, and I LOVE hearing these! We have instructors who tell us about the days when they had to wear dresses, caps, and tights to school, back when hospitals were the schools, and how they were appalled when they learned they had to start using gloves. (Explains why sometimes you'll catch a nurse ripping off a finger or two of the glove before she puts in an IV or draws blood... bad!) To us, we can't even imagine not using gloves, etc. It's amazing. One of the hospitals we have a lot of clinicals at has a whole mini "nursing museum" because they used to be one of the nicest nursing schools in the area and it's so cool just to even look at all of the equipment you used to use. I love hearing your stories!!

I've been a nurse since 1961. I graduated from a very large teaching hospital in New York City. At that time, the only things disposable were paper cups. Interns, and residents started IV's . When a patient came in with phlebatis, the treatment was to cover her legs with warm towels which would be removed periodically. There were no ward clerks, no computers, no monitors and we were expected to a small amount of housekeeping. We word stiff hats, starched uniforms, polished, white shoes, hair couldn't touch the coller, low salary, and we had to put up with sexual harassment to boot.

I was 20 when I graduated from nursing school and I worked with an OB doctor, who removed all his clothing and one of us had to put on his gown. He got a big thrill out of this. When we complained we were told it was easier to replace on of us, than a physician. Oh, and the treatment for ulcers was Maalox and milk.

The first time I saw a disposable enema can, I was sooo happy.LOL!

MajitaRN · Jul 16, 2008

I graduated in 1963. I was 20 years old. I graudated from a teaching hospital. We had to wear the hats, which in the hospital I graduated from, were gauze like round things with a black ribbon around the edge. We wore starched uniforms and white shoes. We were responsible for our patients, some housekeeping and assisted interns whose job it was to start IV's. We lifted heavy patients without the aid of a machine; the needles and syringes were placed in a large drawer where we would assemble them. We didn't have telemetry, scans, and b/p were taken with a stethescope and spygnomanometer Phlebitis was teated with warm towels wrapped around the patients legs. When they got cold, they were changed to another set of warm, wet towels. The only disposable item I can remember was the paper cup at the water fountain.

We also put up with what you would call sexual harassment today. I worked labor/delivery, and there was a doctor old enough to be my grandfather who loved to disrobe down to his boxer shorts. One of us had to put his gown on. We complained, but were told it was easier to replace one of us than a physician.

I can't tell you how happy I was the first time I saw a disposable enema can. That's all this old girl can remember. Oh, the pay was terrible! :nurse:

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 16, 2008

when i graduated, there were ash trays in every nurse's station so the cardiologists and pulmonologists could smoke while making rounds.

we did team nursing -- one rn and one na for 15 med/surg patients during the daytime, 30 patients at night.

there was a special icu for "vips" and it had carpeting, paintings and equipment. the "other icu" did without equipment if someone in the vip icu wanted it.

we used buretrols for all our drips -- dopamine, epinephrine, isuprel -- you name it. no iv pumps, just buretrols. you dropped an hour's worth of your drip into the buretrol then counted the drops so it ran in over an hour.

there was no such thing as a pocket calculator. we drew up 3 syringes full of ns for our cardiac outputs, injected them and then calculated the average by long division. we also calculated the cardiac index and svr by long division -- at the end of the day we had paper towels covered with math in case someone questioned our numbers.

patients and familes respected us and were grateful.

physicians didn't respect us and often insisted we give them our chairs when they came onto the unit. sexual harrassment was a given and i once saw a nurse manager fired for standing up for the nurse a physician had just punched out. (female nurse, male physician. when he punched out a fellow physician, he went to jail!)

visiting hours were limited and visitors stuck to them.

softstorms · Jul 18, 2008

I shared some of this with the nurses I work with. It made our night. Most of us are in our mid 50's and have been doing this for a while. All can relate to Tx's that we never would do today. Tolerating treatment from Dr's we never would today and getting more joy from our work than we ever had! We have worn many hats, from the first ones that we "bobbie pinned" to our heads to the new job responsibilities we learned along the way. One of the greatest things about this career is that it is never stagnant. You can never get tired of it. We did agree on one thing....We were multi purpose then. Nothing went to someone else. Nursing was left to find an ans. to all problems. LOL. and we still find that true :).