When we were younger new flegling nurses :D

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Following on from a thread we appear to have hijacked regarding nursing many moons ago and how we remember things done. Have started this thead :D

Right what I remember when training and qualifying in the 1980's

Hiding when consultant came onto the ward

Eating breakfast in the toilet

Enough people on the ward to ensure all care was given and time to talk to patients

Bed pan rounds (didn't do the pans piled on trolley tho)

Pressure rounds (set trolley at set times checking patients pressure areas)

O2 on pressure sores

trial on using maggots on wounds

Tidy clean wards

Right anyone else :lol_hitti

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Some of these bring back memories

I qualified with a nursing degree in 1997, in this day Nursing degrees were not the norm and we were completely seperate from the school of nursing, we wore different uniforms and lived in with the regular uni students and we had no bursary, we got a grant and a student loan like all other uni students. I remember being tret quite badly on some wards because they did not like degree nurses and thought we only wanted to go into management, I guess some of my colleagues did but the only reason i did a degree was my parents wanted me to go to uni and i had the A-levels so went for it. So glad i did now.

I remember the mercury thermometers and the pink solution, and having to pick up the mercury with a syringe when you dropped one.

I remeber not being able to call other memebers of staff by the first names, it had to be sister watson, staff nurse Jones etc.

I also remember back rounds and the back trolley and the whole general task orientated way of working rather than the individual patient care theory.

I've only lived in Scotland for 18 months and notice that all wards and hospitals up here have disposable bed pans, but it certainly wasn't the case back in Hull, where we still had metal bed pans or plastic slipper pans which went through a traditional bed pan washer (which inevitably broke down every week, leaving you to scrub the pans yourself)

Does anywhere still use Virkon? we used it for everything back in Hull, I had 6 months off and went back to nursing in Scotland and they don't use it and haven't heard of it.

That does surprise me that you were treated so badly because you were doing a degree, especially in 1997-they must have been envious or something

Specializes in med/surg.
:lol2::lol2:nope not a medical bong it came in a tub which you mixed together, I think then you poured the liquid into a wound cavity it filled the cavity. you took it out and washed it every day until it no longer fitted the cavity. Then repeated the process all over again. THats what I remember although it was over 15 years ago

Great stuff not sure about the evidence around it though.

See my post on page 1 or 2 of this thread

Hi all, I've found the same thing when it comes to being a degree student. We are totally outnumbered and get a much smaller bursary, im on 50 quid a week. It's not so bad as we get a 2000 quid loan a yr as well, but its not enough and doesnt seem fair that we have to pay that back when the diploma nurses get all of their money for free!!

I have a lot of friends on the diploma programme and there isnt much problem there but i have been asked why im doing a degree by some qualified nurses and one even asked me if i thought i was better than the diploma students!! I just told her i've got a levels and so thought i might as well use them! it's not on tho, many just assume you're doing diploma then when they ask about assignments and modules they get a shock when you mention your dissertation. I think its mostly a lack of awareness.

Hel

x

degree students were very thin on the ground where i was, and i think that its just a lack of knowledge as to what the degree nurses are expected to study compared to the diploma students. but there were plenty of diploma nurses who were going ahead with the degree programme , either as soon as they had finished their training or even more mature nurses were doing it.

I remember wearing all white uniforms and nursing caps(always getting tangled up in the curtains between the beds)

I remember chest tubes connected to 3 large vaccum jars.

I remember that you didn't want the patient to think that you didn't want to touch them so you never wore gloves unless you were doing a sterile procedure.

I remember when 500 bed hospitals were always full.

I remember counting drips to calculate IV fluid rates.

I remember having to calculate mcgs/kg/min long math

I remember using a slide rule to calculate cardiac outputs.

Specializes in med/surg.
I remember wearing all white uniforms and nursing caps(always getting tangled up in the curtains between the beds)

I remember chest tubes connected to 3 large vaccum jars.

I remember that you didn't want the patient to think that you didn't want to touch them so you never wore gloves unless you were doing a sterile procedure.

I remember when 500 bed hospitals were always full.

I remember counting drips to calculate IV fluid rates.

I remember having to calculate mcgs/kg/min long math

I remember using a slide rule to calculate cardiac outputs.

Glad someone's pulled this thread back BTW I was getting fed up of the graduate vs diploma thing!! I did the straight RGN - not even a diploma but I'm a great nurse - just ask my colleagues & my patients!!!!! You're either a good nurse or you're not & how you got there makes NO difference!

I remember those chest drains! I have to say though I've always worn gloves - if the patient commented I just said it was to protect them.

I remember learning to count those drips too, only to find that out in the "real" world you just did your best guesstimate!

I remember the camaraderie between us students because we all lived & worked in the same place throughout our training. The students I meet now are all really nice but they hardly seem know each other! They all start doing different placements & some of them have to travel miles now. It seems a shame. The sense of belonging we had has gone for them.

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Yes living together was the best thing about being a student nurse. We paid 40 pounds per month for our room. When I qualified I still lived in and that cost 90 pounds a month.

We had so many parties that one day rolled in to the next. We once sold tickets to our summer party after a gang of us had gone to Majorca for a two week holiday and we wanted the holiday to continue:roll We went round the pubs in Withington and made loads of money for booze. We made this punch and I kid you not it almost burnt the bin it was made in it was that strong. The next morning there was none left but not one of us who had made it drank any.

We laughed through every inch of our training I never ever had so much fun in my life as that 3 year course.

Hi, we still live together! it was great, in the first yr the uni of leeds put 50 of us all in one block together, it was brilliant...very noisy tho!! to this day i live with 6 other nursing students in our own house..rented of course! we have alot of fun, just back from the pub in fact...i dont want it to end!!

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Hi, we still live together! it was great, in the first yr the uni of leeds put 50 of us all in one block together, it was brilliant...very noisy tho!! to this day i live with 6 other nursing students in our own house..rented of course! we have alot of fun, just back from the pub in fact...i dont want it to end!!

I so miss the pub and the social life. Sounds fantastic

Specializes in med/surg.
I so miss the pub and the social life. Sounds fantastic

Don't you have a social life any more then?

You've got to go get one again! I've just re-discovered mine - was out every night the weekend just gone, sometimes with the kids, sometimes without. I'm determined not to let it go when I'm in the USA but I do have the advantage of having friends there already, who we go out with when we're on vacation.

With your move halfway round the world & everything that then happened to you you deserve to go have some fun!!:D

Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
I remember those chest drains! I have to say though I've always worn gloves - if the patient commented I just said it was to protect them.

I remember learning to count those drips too, only to find that out in the "real" world you just did your best guesstimate!

I remember being horrified at the fact that qualified nurses didn't actually count the drips.

As for gloves we were actually given a hard time for wearing them for anything other than sterile procedures.

I remember empty beds and the Ward sister managing her own beds and admissions and on that not I remember always getting your elective surgical admissions in and if you worked on a surgical ward there was no way a medical patient was going to be there

Ohhhh that almost sounds like a rant

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Don't you have a social life any more then?

You've got to go get one again! I've just re-discovered mine - was out every night the weekend just gone, sometimes with the kids, sometimes without. I'm determined not to let it go when I'm in the USA but I do have the advantage of having friends there already, who we go out with when we're on vacation.

With your move halfway round the world & everything that then happened to you you deserve to go have some fun!!:D

We have a small social life but to be truthful we dont have much money spare anymore and to have a busy social life you need more money plus a babysitter that is not going to cost an arm and a leg.

To be honest we have changed such a lot in the past 18 months, and my priority now is having a pool lol.

We live in a beautiful community but night life is minimum

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