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've been a nurse since: we wore caps, extra pair of white stockings in the locker, when gloves were used only for isolation patients, when we double bagged, before DRG's, before primary nursing, when IPPB machines were still used, when we filed burrs of the reusable needles, 2 day NCLEX-3 month result wait. Gas was 38cents a gallon and a draft beer was 25 cents. Smoking at the nurses station, eating while coding a patient, when we managed pain through comfort measures and imagery, I was there when Superman arrived in our hospital, when we had to ice our syringes for cardiac outputs, before the monitors did all the calculations, I knew the formulas by heart. When we used the Fick method for pediatric patients. placenta was processed for burn covering, CABG's stayed in the ICU for about 5 days, paraldehyde was used, Insulin was used for depression, State psych hospitals were still open and we had less homeless, before entitlement when people tried to help themselves. Before AIDS, when people still understood the importance of vaccinating children, when you called your patients by their sir name, when you stood up and gave your chair to the Doc, walked behind HIM for patient rounds carrying all the patient charts, when charts were metal hanging charts, red, green and black pens, eight hour shifts, men were just coming into nursing, Peace, Love, and Rock and Roll, respect, abuse was part of the job, eating their young was considered a right of passage, Clysis was given to the elderly for hydration, Maalox and sugar was used with heat lamps for decub ulcers, Vents were on the medical unit, Harvard clamp for TPN (no IV pumps) had to calculate drip rates with your watch.
This was fun, there are so many more things, and I am still learning, now I teach and am learning all the new technology, and I even stay up to date on EBP.
I was part of the many nurses who helped us get to where we are today, much of what we did then is EBP today. We hold the scar from the small pox vaccination. Hooray for all of us old bats, who actually wore the bat wings and had the guts to stand up for what was right.
I've been a nurse since: we wore caps, extra pair of white stockings in the locker, when gloves were used only for isolation patients, when we double bagged, before DRG's, before primary nursing, when IPPB machines were still used, when we filed burrs of the reusable needles, 2 day NCLEX-3 month result wait. Gas was 38cents a gallon and a draft beer was 25 cents. Smoking at the nurses station, eating while coding a patient, when we managed pain through comfort measures and imagery, I was there when Superman arrived in our hospital, when we had to ice our syringes for cardiac outputs, before the monitors did all the calculations, I knew the formulas by heart. When we used the Fick method for pediatric patients. placenta was processed for burn covering, CABG's stayed in the ICU for about 5 days, paraldehyde was used, Insulin was used for depression, State psych hospitals were still open and we had less homeless, before entitlement when people tried to help themselves. Before AIDS, when people still understood the importance of vaccinating children, when you called your patients by their sir name, when you stood up and gave your chair to the Doc, walked behind HIM for patient rounds carrying all the patient charts, when charts were metal hanging charts, red, green and black pens, eight hour shifts, men were just coming into nursing, Peace, Love, and Rock and Roll, respect, abuse was part of the job, eating their young was considered a right of passage, Clysis was given to the elderly for hydration, Maalox and sugar was used with heat lamps for decub ulcers, Vents were on the medical unit, Harvard clamp for TPN (no IV pumps) had to calculate drip rates with your watch.
This was fun, there are so many more things, and I am still learning, now I teach and am learning all the new technology, and I even stay up to date on EBP.
I was part of the many nurses who helped us get to where we are today, much of what we did then is EBP today. We hold the scar from the small pox vaccination. Hooray for all of us old bats, who actually wore the bat wings and had the guts to stand up for what was right.
This is great. I do remember our first nursing instructor shoving my roommate back into her chair when she tried to offer it to an MD. She said " don't ever get up and give your chair to a doctor" I still practice this, depending on the doctor.
I"m retired now but was a nurse when white was the only uniform color, dresses were the only uniform and caps were mandatory. That was way before AIDS and lap surgeries.
I've been a nurse since before we had to wear gloves to start IVs, before these was a "needle-less" system, before there were paperless charts, before there was no time for nurses to give back rubs, the second cup of coffee or to wash a patient's hair.
This reminds me of the rap lyrics, "I've been spending hundreds since they had small faces!"
I started in the nursing field when Steve Jobs was still alive. Osama bin Laden, Moammar Gadhafi, and Kim Jong-il were still around. The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was still intact because Japan had not yet been struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake (remember that tsunami? ~20,000 fatalities). Prince William was still unmarried.
I don't name any significant events in the medical world because I've only been a nurse since 2011, and not that much has changed!
Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
elevation, thanks
us crysty ole vats :) are getting a little tired, and need you young ones to come along :)
yes I remember "hypodermic pills of codein, morphine and dikaudid, we would count at shift change there were in a round pill container, wheel like, you would pop one out into the hub of a syringe, place the plunger back in, and draw up acc of sterile water etc for reconstitution........
"pre op hypos" were usually 7-10mg morphine, some scopalamine or atropine, sometimes phenergan 25mg,that was given 1hr prior to a surgery person coming for the patient......... cystoscwere done under general anes......cholecystectomy was a large abdominal incission, patient in bed days........may of stayed in hospital a week or so...... after acute MI, heart caths were not done till 6-8weeks later for bypass consideration.....pacemaker and swan cath were reusable, gas sterilized, and all was paper charted. It was common in the early 70s for the charge nurse on general floors to be LVNs, and the only RN in house at night might be the house suppervisor, maybe one in ER, and maybe one in ICU, but not always........I went to a diploma hospital based RN program.....
ixchel
4,547 Posts
I love this post. ❤️