Let's play I Remember When.....

[RNSue]

I think it would be a good idea and fun for any nurse who has been working for, oh let's say 15+ years, to post a message for the younger and/or less experienced nurses, so they can see where us veteran nurses are coming from. What do you think??? I'll start it off with.... I remember when it was so quiet on our full 63 bed med-surg floor on the night shift that I could hardly stay awake!...when there was a unit clerk on the night shift! ...when the patient's bed side tables, overbed table, and shelf in the bathroom had to cleared of all personal care items at all times and had to be in the drawers and be labeled with their names in black marker!...when it was required to wear our little white nurse's hats!...when hair couldn't touch our collars!...when we had to stand when a doctor came into the room!... when there was a shift charge nurse who rounded with the doctor and wrote all his orders down on a notepad and then came back to the station and wrote the orders on the chart, handed them to the unit clerk and then checked them off!(what happened to that person!?)...when a patient was admitted the night before so she could have a douche administered in the AM before her GYN surgery...when we had aides who stocked, cleaned, AND answered lights...when we used up one entire monthly staff meeting and half of the next month's meeting debating how we could get ice water to the patients without A. contaminating the kitchen, B. contaminating the cart used to push the ice bucket around with, C. contaminating the ice scoop, and D.wasting time!...when we put sugar in wounds and taped an oxygen mask over it!...when we could get all our work done, sit around and have a conversation with our co-workers,chart and still get out on time!...Work an entire night shift as the med nurse and give only two PRNs for the whole shift!(63 pts)...When we had time to clean out drawers and wipe the counters down(at least 3 times a week)!... I've been a nurse since 1978, not so long ago,considering I still have about the same amount of time left to go before I retire!!This career is a trip and a half!!!

[White Shoes]

I graduated in 1982... back then, we used to use an air-tube system (like they use in the drive through windows at banks) to send our orders to the pharmacy- no fax machines, no computer.

Remember the multiple cubby holes above the nursing station- each containing a different lab slip for each separate lab ordered?

Oh, and the first time we found out that health benefits required co-pays or didn't have 100% coverage! Nobody was happy with that.

How about restraints in LTC? Everywhere you looked there were vests, belts, and "go- betweens" to keep people in their w/cs so they wouldn't try to stand or slide out and fall. I now work in a restraint-free facility, and we hardly have any falls, although I would have never dreamed this was possible when they first came out with the new regulations banning restraints. (We don't use side-rails, either, unless deemed medically necessary for the resident to assist with turning after a stroke, etc. Even then, the rail is more like a very short grab-bar.)

I remember our nursing instructor telling us never, never, never use gloves with residents unless they were in isolation because it may make them feel alienated or like they were being treated like they were "dirty" and thus cause psychological trauma.

This is a fun thread. It has been neat to read all of the responses.

White Shoes

[Agnus]

Yes three glass bottles connected by glass tubing in black rubber stoppers. /QUOTE]

Called a Wagenstein (sp?) Funny I was just thinking about these this morning.

[MLMRN1120]

I'll be graduating as a new :nurse:RN in May 09. I have enjoyed so much reading these posts about "the good old days". Even though I have virtually no experience aside from clinicals in school, I have seen how impersonal nursing can seem sometimes. It's sad that I will probably never experience the type of teamwork and camaraderie that those before me have. That being said, I am still excited about beginning a nursing career. Keep the posts coming, I love this thread!

[zamboni]

What a fun thread! I love hearing about how things were done in previous eras. While I was reading it, I had the thought, "What will I do or what skill will I perform tonight that will be considered absurd and outdated tomorrow?"

[cursenurse]

I remember when years ago if one of the residents in LTC was having TIA or stroke sx we were told not to send them to the er because, there is nothing that can be done.

[Jamesdotter]

Yes three glass bottles connected by glass tubing in black rubber stoppers. /QUOTE]

Called a Wagenstein (sp?) Funny I was just thinking about these this morning.

Wangensteen (I looked it up:D). I remember tripping over the darn things because it was hard to maneuver around them in a 7-bed ward. The curtains and the glass bottles (except the ones on the floor) all hung from the same metal rods. Another reason to be happy my cap now lives in a cupboard!

[MrsMommaRN]

i love this post. the original started over 8 years ago. keep them coming. i love it!!

[pggrn]

Does anyone "remember when" you went to the hospital you used to get an enema about as quickly as they now days ask for your insurance card?

[ellakate]

What do I remember?

Regarding those enemata, I can't even remember how many I did. First on evening shift, the poor lambs got their MgCitrate and clear liquids. At bedtime, they got the first enema. A second was given after a dulcolax suppository starting at 5 am. Clear meant clear. The color of tea was permitted, if clear.

Running 12 lead rhythm strips every 2 hours on Intermediate Care

Hospital or facility sponsored holiday parties at nice hotels.

Recognition pins.

Unit Dose Pharmacy system.

Retirement parties.

[mizfradd, CNA]

I can remember when hospitals across the USA (up until the late '70's) would use a blind man or woman in the radiology unit to develop films. It was not uncommon to see the blind person with a badge ID walking along with their seeing-eye dog, also with a name badge, in the hospital or in the cafeteria.

It provided jobs for them....until the advent of digital imaging.

[husker_rn, RN]

I remember a time of no gloves...finger cots instead and not for everything either. I remember when rooms did not have bathrooms and we used commodes if they couldn't get down the hall. And taping body parts, i.e. butt cheeks to bedrails and using heat lamps for wound healing. And I got pretty good at cupping and postural drainage. Not to mention stainless steel reusable pitchers, and cups and urinals and bedpans sterilized with the dependable autoclave.

[OldnurseRN]

I remember my starting pay was $8.65 an hour. I worked nights on a 15 bed oncology unit, with one LPN and sometimes a CNA, who could sleep standing up against the wall of a dark hallway, LOL. I remember when "pant-suit" uniforms were FINALLY allowed, albeit with stict limitations to style. I remember mixing the pre-hydrations, the chemo, giving it, mixing the Mannitol into the post-hydration. We sedated the patients so when they had N/V they had amnesia for the event. We tied them in bed with Posey vests and got them up every 2 hours to void. I remember the pride of our work on our small "specialty" unit, the gratitude of the patients, the closeness of relationships with them and their families. I remember the sorrow and the honor of sitting with them when their final minutes came. I miss those days of nursing. It was total patient care. I think alot was lost when the big acute care units opened and our specialties blended to the ordinary.