Let's play I Remember When.....

[RNSue]

I think it would be a good idea and fun for any nurse who has been working for, oh let's say 15+ years, to post a message for the younger and/or less experienced nurses, so they can see where us veteran nurses are coming from. What do you think??? I'll start it off with.... I remember when it was so quiet on our full 63 bed med-surg floor on the night shift that I could hardly stay awake!...when there was a unit clerk on the night shift! ...when the patient's bed side tables, overbed table, and shelf in the bathroom had to cleared of all personal care items at all times and had to be in the drawers and be labeled with their names in black marker!...when it was required to wear our little white nurse's hats!...when hair couldn't touch our collars!...when we had to stand when a doctor came into the room!... when there was a shift charge nurse who rounded with the doctor and wrote all his orders down on a notepad and then came back to the station and wrote the orders on the chart, handed them to the unit clerk and then checked them off!(what happened to that person!?)...when a patient was admitted the night before so she could have a douche administered in the AM before her GYN surgery...when we had aides who stocked, cleaned, AND answered lights...when we used up one entire monthly staff meeting and half of the next month's meeting debating how we could get ice water to the patients without A. contaminating the kitchen, B. contaminating the cart used to push the ice bucket around with, C. contaminating the ice scoop, and D.wasting time!...when we put sugar in wounds and taped an oxygen mask over it!...when we could get all our work done, sit around and have a conversation with our co-workers,chart and still get out on time!...Work an entire night shift as the med nurse and give only two PRNs for the whole shift!(63 pts)...When we had time to clean out drawers and wipe the counters down(at least 3 times a week)!... I've been a nurse since 1978, not so long ago,considering I still have about the same amount of time left to go before I retire!!This career is a trip and a half!!!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

What a great thread, I really enjoyed reading most of it. In lecture yesterday our instructor was just telling us how working night shifts all the patients would be asleep and nurses and dr's would all be hanging out at the nurses station smoking.

[mizfradd, CNA]

Here's another trip down Nostalgia Lane...how about back when hospitals had their own I.V. therapy Dept. RN's?

How many of you nurses still lament that loss? They rocked!!! :rckn:

[JBudd, MSN]

I told some of my students about taping butt cheeks up to the side rails, or elevating swollen testes that way. They weren't sure they believed me, but all the guys were horrified (and wincing).

We used those new fangled hair blow dryers to dry the betadine onto reddened heels and coccyxes (cocci?) to prevent complete breakdown.

The cocaine sitting on top of the crash cart on L&D for nose bleeds.

Full name and diagnosis on the board for all to see. We were cautioned not to write SOB next to "mom's" name, we had to write it out.

Prisoners in beds on the general multibed ward, with a leg shackle to one corner of the bed. No guards. Had the guy sit up in a chair to change the linens, and had to keep stepping over the chain as you moved around the bed.

[RNman09]

Wow what an interesting thread. It's good to read about how things were done back then. I know it's a nine year old thread but it is an interesting to a new RN.

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

Here's another trip down Nostalgia Lane...how about back when hospitals had their own I.V. therapy Dept. RN's?

How many of you nurses still lament that loss? They rocked!!! :rckn:

We STILL have an IV therapy department. We just love those RN's here! If they got rid of IV therapy I'd quit for sure.

Back to I remember when...

Working as a cna without gloves, posey vests, hoppers for rinsing linen (lost many wascloths down there haha), and the good ole autoclaves.

[JDZ344]

I am going to bump this thread and say that here in the NHS, we still do:

- have pillows facing away from the door (why? The reason is lost in time!)

- "Hospital corners" on the beds.

- The RNs mix their own IVs.

- We still have windows that open (but they have been restricted to opening to just 2 inches now where I work)

- The RNs still calculate drip rates as there are never enough pumps to go around.

- We still do 2-4 hourly "back rounds" where we turn, change patients who need it.

- Hair still has to be above the collar.

- We have the central nursing station.

It's really interesting how things used to be done just 30-40 years ago!

[Rnandsoccermom]

-IM pain medication "Demerol and Vistaril q4 hours IM for pain

-Routinely giving iron via z-tract injection.

-Conservative management of a GI bleeder-they all came up from the ER with coffee ground emesis and you had to start an IV and sink a Salem sump. They almost always vomitted on you somewhere and you could never get that out of your uniform.

-Having to carry your needles out of the room to the med cart and cut the needle with the needle box.

-Reading the accu check off of the glucostrip bottle.

-Putting the BP cuff on a bag of PRBC's and inflating it to run in a unit of blood faster.

-Venting your Bentley bottle with a needle to maintain suction.

Ahhh the good old days.....