How has nursing changed since you started working as a nurse?

[insightful]

I have been in nursing for over 35 years. Nursing has certainly had some changes since I first started. I think is would be fun for us to compare stories of what nursing "use to be like".

I graduated in 1973. Then a nurse:

-had to stand up and offer her chair to a doctor.

-we actually were allowed to smoke at the nurses station!

-Nurse uniforms included a white dress, white support pantyhose (thatvrefused to stay up), white nursing shoes and oh yes that nursing cap. Since the mini skirt was in style, the dresses were as short as we could get by with (maybe a couple of inches above the knee). Believe me, many a patient saw more than enough nursing underwear when we leaned over.

-I worked for a hospital in North Carolina that still had segregated floors. I helped to desegregate the floors of that hospital. Even then a white person would never share a room with a person of color. And believe it or not even the units of blood were segregated. The first time I went to the blood bank I had to ask what the "W" and "C" meant on the blood bags. I was floored to find out that it meant "white" and "colored". A neuro-surgeon and I nearly started a riot in the hospital management when we had a white male admitted from a MVA with massive bleeding. We went through all the "W" blood in the patient's type. In desparation the doctor and I had to go to the bloodbank and steal units of blood marked "C". The patient survived because of this. However, I don't think anyone had the nerve back then to let him know that he had some "C" blood in him.

-That same hospital did not have air conditioning and so in the very hot summer nurses opened windows to get air moving through the unit. I believe many a patient died just from the extreme heat. Nurses even had fly swatters on their med carts to kill the flies..........:

[Brian, ASN, RN]

insightful,

Great topic idea, I moved this thread to the General Nursing Forum to get the most responses :)

[bill4745, RN]

I remember EKG machines with suction cups - what a mess!

[QTRN74]

I graduated in 1997 and my first ICU job had us drawing up our own KCL bags! The vials were located next to the Lidocaine vials...

We also only had ONE vented patient at a time...now we get 2-3 dending on census!

[PANurseRN1]

1. Less respect from pts and family. Unreasonable demands, and being threatened to be sued over really trivial matters.

2. Having to do much more with much less. Less support staff, less equipment, linens, etc.

3. Way less respect from new nurses. I remember as a student and as a new grad that we were taught to treat the experienced staff respectfully. Certainly to ask questions if something seemed wrong, but not the way people ask today...rudely, challenging. We were taught to treat them as the ones who were going to get us into the real nuts and bolts on nursing and the ones who would have our backs as new nurses, as long as we gave them their due.

This reminds me of something that happened when I was a student. I was being precepted by and LPN (I was in an RN program). This LPN was fantastic; she was exactly the kind of nurse you would want if you were sick and in the hospital. You should have seen how the docs with her...it sounds weird, but there were almost reverential with her. She was just that good. Very kind, very patient. At the end of the clinical day, she would always start off by saying what you did well. When she talked about what needed to be improved, even then the way she said it still made you feel built up.

At the end of my rotation with her, I wrote her a thank-you card. When she read it, she started to cry. I was horrified...I thought I'd upset her. She said "no," but it was the first time someone had taken the time to write out a note and tell her just how much she'd helped a student. I still remember her name to this day, and that is going on 25y.

4. Way too much emphasis on "the showy display" and not providing services. It's nice you have a grand piano in the foyer, but how about having pt gowns that aren't tattered.

5. Way too many middle managers.

6. Stretching staff too thing and not even making sure that they can attend to their most basic needs, e.g. meal breaks, bathroom needs.

7. MOT

8. The separation of bedside nurses v supervisory/mgmt. It used to be that mgrs would pitch in on really bad days...not any more.

9. The "invisibility" of admin. Again, the school I attended, admin. made rouds, talked to nurses. These days, you're more likely to see a duck-billed platypuss.

10. Money. Let's face it, for many nurses, wages and benefits have remained fairly stagnant.

[neneRN, BSN, RN]

I graduated in 2001 and for the first year or two we were still mixing our own K...scary, but didn't think twice about it when we did it. During this time, we were the only unit in the hospital who didn't have Medselects yet....just a big locked med room with open bins of all the meds; we just grabbed what was ordered -no system of charging other than coders reading nurses' notes. This is only 6 years ago in an 850 bed hospital!

[nursemary9, BSN, RN]

I graduated in 1966; 41 years ago.

To be honest, there have been SO many changes over the years that I can barely remember them all.

-IV bottles were GLASS; no pumps--all had to be hand regulated.

-There weere no IVPB's--they came along later & I remember the first ones were in multi-dose bottles & we had to calculate how much to give for each dose.

-blood transfusions were whole blood--again--in bottles

-glass syringes for injections--they had to sterilized after use

-glass thermometers

-nothing disposable--everything we used had to be cleaned then sterilized

-all of the other mentioned posts like the white uniforms, hose,caps,etc.

it was even MANY years later that we could wear white pants!!

-clinitests on urine instead of accuchecks on blood

-nurses couldn't start IV's where I came from

-angiocaths were just coming in--we used regular needles

-CPR was just coming into use

-continuous bladder irrigation--witgh these huge steel basins hanging in the air

-ICU's were a NEW thing

-many fewer medications

-patients slept during the nite. very few treatments, meds or dressing changes at nite

-one RN for a whole floor of patients

-most of your patients were up and about since they came into the hospital for testing.

-no Central lines

-no premixed drugs, we did all the mixing

I could go on and on; It wasn't even the same job back then. Believe Me!!

Good thread

Mary Ann

[SweetOldWorld, BSN, RN]

Cleaning incontinent patients and empyting colostomy bags with bare hands. The only gloves on the floor were sterile gloves to be used only for sterile dressing changes, and we got in trouble if we used them for protecting ourselves.

Patients coming in a couple days in advance of their surgeries for testing and preps. Patients allowed to smoke in their rooms.

IM injections q 3 hours for pain. Those poor patients would be so bruised up. Loved when they started using PCAs. Now I rarely give any IMs at all.

Patients on bedrest for days after their surgeries.

A lot has changed for the better!

[jonzey]

I graduated from LPN school in 1981.I remember when we gave soap suds enemas until clear preop for cataract surgeries on med surg floors.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

The main thing I've noticed where I've worked the last 15 years was the introduction of unlicensed personnel. This has increased the RN/LPN to patient ratio.

[nursemary9, BSN, RN]

Cleaning incontinent patients and empyting colostomy bags with bare hands. The only gloves on the floor were sterile gloves to be used only for sterile dressing changes, and we got in trouble if we used them for protecting ourselves.

I did forget this; I was just telling one of our new grads this very thing not long ago; We never were allowed to wear gloves when working with pt's unless it was for a sterile procedure.

After a time, we were finally ALLOWED to use 1 (ONE) pair of gloves, but it had to last the ENTIRE shift!! Amazing!!

Now we are in deep trouble if we don't wear gloves!!!!!LOL!!

Pt's in for an MI were routinely on BEDREST for 6 weeks, & only then did we START getting them up!! Imagine people in the hospital for that length of time for an MI!!!!

[cheshirecat]

Patients on 5 day bowel prep for bowel ops.

Patients coming in as TCI's and having beds for them.

Overnight stays for extraction of wisdom teeth.

Wearing black stockings, frilly cap and belt with silver buckle.