I was admitting a patient the other night into the PICU, and the parents were VERY anxious. Rightfully so. Our attending, in an effort to make them more at ease, said, "Meanmaryjean has been a nurse for over thirty years and is our most experienced nurse!"
As is sometimes the case, I discovered that I have been a nurse longer than the parents have been alive. But it got me thinking, so I offer up this thread for you 'more experienced' nurses (and those who aren't if you want).
I'll start off by saying:
I've been a nurse since before there was an internet. Before AIDS. Before Elvis died.
I started working as an RN in 1972 . I had just turned 20 and the only rn with one aide for 48 patients on the evening shift. Granted this was a VA so the acuity was low, but about half were total care patients. Lots of meds to be passed twice nightly. When there was an LPN on the other wing I also had to pass all of those meds and monitor her IV's. Now I bi*ch about taking care of 2 patients in critical care. It's been fun.
Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.
Since 1989. I was 19 with my LPN. :) We wore all white everything, dress stockings and nursing caps. Now I'm hoping to finish BSN to ANP, within next 4 years!!!
Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.
My LPN boards were 8 hours of pencil paper testing, divided into two 4 hour sessions. RN boards were the same except they had two days of 8 hour testing. We got our results about 6-8 weeks later.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I have been a nurse since the days when employees wasted time at work doing the crossword puzzles from the newspapers on slow nights rather than Facebook.
Many of us in my department still waste time doing crossword puzzles!
I've been a nurse since 2005, my first job in healthcare being in the OR where I still work. I remember paper charting that was 85% checkboxes and the days before robotic surgery. I was actually in a nursing class when the towers fell, and the instructor gathered us in the hallway afterwards to tell us what had happened. I remember clinical being clinical, not hiding out in a conference room doing paperwork. And now, I'm trying to get an adjunct teaching position online. When I was in school, online classes were definitely not the norm!
I was born in '81, so the OP meanmaryjean has probably been a nurse longer than I have been alive.
Uh huh. I graduated with a BSN in 81, aide and candystriper before that.
"My license is 90 years older than God. I was a nurse when dirt was young. I've been a nurse since Hector was a pup. My varicose veins are older than you are. I charted with a 4 color pen to show which shift I was working. My nursing boards were actual boards (well, student desks with a wooden flip up). "
What is really funny, is during my grad year at a big city general hospital, you signed up for vacation by order of date of hire. I looked at the date on my mentor's line, (by far not the oldest), and exclaimed "is this real? you were hired 3 months before I was born!"
I've been a nurse since orders were still on paper at my facility. When I tell the new nurses that they don't believe me.
Yep...I remember having to tag all of the current orders so we could find them for review and so the unit clerk would know not to take them away when she/ he thinned the clipboard!
I always feel like those who respond with dignity, respect and wisdom must surely be older than I am because half the people my age still act like teenagers.
Wow! After reading these posts, I now realize just how long I've been doing this. Nursing Assistant since 1984 which required no state certification. Worked at the now torn down state mental institution for 4 years as a "Health Service Worker." (loved that job.) when the closed the doors I was hired by our local hospital 1989 as a "nursing assistant" when the state asked for certification. 20 days later our facility offered me the chance to enter the LPN program. No contract, just a verbal agreement for 2 years of service. They payed my tuition, books and even paid my nursing assistant wages when I went to school without even having to work. Back then there were no computers, everything written by hand and stuffed in those antique aluminum metal charts. Been there for 25 years now and if I could "do it all over" I would do the same as our hospital has always given me support. Nearing retirement now, I realize that I've been blessed. Love the profession that I've chosen and have absolutely no regrets.
Muser69
176 Posts
I started working as an RN in 1972 . I had just turned 20 and the only rn with one aide for 48 patients on the evening shift. Granted this was a VA so the acuity was low, but about half were total care patients. Lots of meds to be passed twice nightly. When there was an LPN on the other wing I also had to pass all of those meds and monitor her IV's. Now I bi*ch about taking care of 2 patients in critical care. It's been fun.