You Know You're an Old(er) Nurse If . . .

Nurses General Nursing

Published

You know you're an older nurse if:

1. You remember working with nurses who wore caps. :nurse:

2. You remember nurses (and doctors) sitting at the nurses station drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes while charting. :smokin:

3. You remember when charting was done (handwritten) in 3 different colors (black or blue for day shift, green for evening shifts, red for night shift).

4. You remember when IV fluids came only in glass bottles.

5. You remember when breast milk wasn't a biohazard. :redlight:

6. You remember when chest tube setups consisted of glass bottles, rubber stoppers, and tubing.

7. You remember when white polyester uniforms were the standard for nurses.

8. You remember when you'd have given your eye teeth for a comfortable pair of nursing shoes (we haven't always been able to wear athletic shoes).

9. You remember when the hospital's top nurse was the director of nursing and not the chief nursing officer.

10. You remember giving lots of IM shots for pre-ops and pain meds.

What else?

HollyVK (with patient care experience going back to 1972) :gandalf:

My starting salary was $2.85 an hour as a GN. I am a Pedi Nurse and when the IV pumps came along it was such a blessing....no more dry solusets and having to restart IV's in the middle of the night.

Barbara

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
My starting salary was $2.85 an hour as a GN. I am a Pedi Nurse and when the IV pumps came along it was such a blessing....no more dry solusets and having to restart IV's in the middle of the night.

Barbara

Remember, prior to pumps, pt's playing with the roller clamp and CHF pt's ending up with a 1000cc bolus!! The first pumps seemed so high tech, now they seem so prehistoric, but we all rejoiced in having them.

Specializes in MR Peds, geris, psych, DON,ADON,SSD.

I loved wearing my cap. I EARNED the right to wear it. I graduated in 1984 from LPN school and was 19 and thrilled to make $5.50/hr with shift diff on mid nights. OH YEAH i worked for 4 months without a license. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH how things have changed.

Specializes in MedSurg/OrthoNeuro/Rehab/Consultant.

I started at $7.50 an hour as a GN in 1980. I had to wait for almost 3 months to hear if I passed state boards. I believe that as GN's, we could do anything that the RN's did, passing all meds, etc. Of course, I started working in the hospital where I was a student, but I think it was the same for the other grads who started work in other hospitals in the city.

You know you're getting old when the Santas on the wrapping paper start to look like hotties! :eek:

Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
"Annie, Annie, are you ok?" LOL - to this day I will joke around with a friend or co-worker who is not making sense, who is sleep deprived or something goes over their head ... I'll shake them and say, "Annie, Annie, are you ok?"

Of course, only the nurses etc. will get the joke ... the rest of them look at me as if they're wondering if I'M ok... :monkeydance:

Thats really funny.One time I sat Annie up in a chair and dressed her,left a note for my boss to put her to work cause Annie just doesnt seem to have any ambition or get any work done.LOL:lol2:

Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
You know you're getting old when the Santas on the wrapping paper start to look like hotties! :eek:

Thats really funny ,too.:lol2:

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

NCLEX was 2 full days long, it consisted of 750 questions, paper, #2 pencils, and 1000's of little dots just waiting to be filled in. Six weeks for results. You could work as a full fleged nurse from the time you took NCLEX until the results came in. Graduate nurses were nurses who graduated but had not yet taken the NCLEX. If I remember correctly, we could still give meds we just didn't get paid as much as graduates.

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

"NCLEX was 2 full days long"

Oh yeah. The state board test pool examination. Each type of nursing was tested separately for a looooong two hours. Several hundred grads were herded into a ballroom or gymnasium. We were seated 6 feet apart laterally and front to back. There were proctors who wandered the aisles and gave you the eye.

Heaven forbid you had to go to the restroom. They went with you and stood facing you through the open stall door. The "good" part was if you failed one of the 5 tests you could take just that one over......in another 6 months.....as it was only offered twice a year. I believe I was one of the first classes who graduated in August who got to take a summertime test.

Then you waited.....and.....waited. Oh and waited.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
nclex was 2 full days long, it consisted of 750 questions, paper, #2 pencils, and 1000's of little dots just waiting to be filled in. six weeks for results. you could work as a full fleged nurse from the time you took nclex until the results came in. graduate nurses were nurses who graduated but had not yet taken the nclex. if i remember correctly, we could still give meds we just didn't get paid as much as graduates.

i remember working as a gn until i got the letter than said i'd passed! i could then put "rn" after my name and got a pay raise! that test was the most stressful weekend! i had a cold and my nose was running incessently. i had this big box of kleenex, and the proctors took it apart before they'd let me in. then i had to raise my hand and wait for a proctor before i could use a tissue.

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Thats really funny.One time I sat Annie up in a chair and dressed her,left a note for my boss to put her to work cause Annie just doesnt seem to have any ambition or get any work done.LOL:lol2:

HA HA!

Oh Ruby, I remember I was dreadfully sick as well when I wrote the exam. Wrote it with a box of kleenex, cough drops and a bottle of water to keep the hacking down.

I also remember during the lunch break (the test was divided into morning and afternoon sections) the whole class went to a nearby restaurant. Some people drank alcohol (hope it worked!). No way I was gonna wait 3 months to write it when I felt better. I passed it though, first time.

+ Add a Comment