Nursing Hx:Share Oldtime Ineffective tx's?

prn nurse · Sep 18, 2002

I'll be glad when leeches are history ! We still use them routinely for microvascular and some plastic surgeries!

Getting cardiac outputs with saline "iced down" in 5 cc syringes.

boggle, ASN, RN · Sep 18, 2002

Bet'cha I can wrap a Scultetus binder on that laporotomy patient faster than you can!

They never did stay in the right place, did they.

How about little cards/tickets with patient meds written on each?

You would sort them by patient and time, then pour each patient's meds for he shift in little white cups, stacking the 1000 med cup on top of the noon med cup on top of the 1400 med cup.

All the cups and tickets were lined up in a "med cup tray" , and you carried the tray from room to room passing out meds. How did we ever know what we were giving (or not giving)?? Anybody else ever DROP the tray after all the shift meds were poured!!??

I have really enjoyed all of your posts! :)

Sjackson983 · Sep 18, 2002

I remember when MI patients couldn't have ice water, watch TV, read a newspaper. They had to have complete bed baths and use a bed pan. We also started Lido on every patient that had an MI. When the Swan Ganz catheter became popular, we would inject 10cc's of iced water directly into the heart, but the patient still couldn't drink ice water. Hmmmm. We used to "count" Valium pills...3/4 full, 1/2 full. Need a Valium, help yourself. We used to keep our vials of Mannitol in a styrofoam cooler with a light bulb in it to keep the Mannitol from crystallizing.

mark_LD_RN · Sep 18, 2002

Originally posted by bagladyrn
Hey Mark - how about delee suctioning the baby with the suction provided by mouth (one tube in your mouth, the other down the baby)

almost forgot about that one:) actually did it once like that myself in an emergency

stevierae · Sep 18, 2002

Originally posted by P_RN
Milk and Molasses enemas...work
H2O2 and water enemas..work

90/90 suspension for back pain......a 3'x3' padded piece of plywood suspended by chains from the four corners to the overbed frame. The hips would be @ 90 deg. as would the knees. Hard to keep patient's modesty intact.

Bourbon and Bismuth mixture for Stage II skin. Had to stop some patients from eating it from the jar.

MOM or Mylanta on heels to stop sheet burn.

Sugardine (thickened Betadine and Sugar paste) for deep wounds and Stage II-III skin. I believe it worked in many cases.

I have mixed many a MS tablet in sterile saline then used a glass syringe to inject it. At another hospital in town you had to go to the Supervisor at night so she could give you ONE MS tablet at time.

Wangensteen suction.....two glass bottles, sections of rubber tubing on an inverting IV pole. It worked quite well.

Placenta for skin graft coverage.
Pig skin for the same.

Bed shock blocks.....thank heavens for electric beds to Trendelenburg.

Getting you patients' meds from a drug room, out of a community bottle there and documenting IN the nurses notes only. No MAR.
Documenting meals was the same.

Those were the bad/good old days.

I have done every single one of those things, as recently as 1977, in the Navy. You are correct--a lot of them worked great.

We never had unit doses; we calculated EVERYTHING by hand. I, too, remember crushing up MS tablets with a mortar and pestle, dissolving them in sterile injectable NS, and giving the resultant liquid IM or IV.

I remember using shock blocks even WITH electric beds, to get even MORE Trendelenberg in shock or potential shock patients.

Does anybody remember the old fashioned "blow bottles" used post-op? And the old glass Gomcos, for suction or wound drainage?

Does anybody remember stopping premature labor by IV alcohol drip? Patient stayed drunk, contractions slowed or stopped?

stevierae · Sep 18, 2002

Originally posted by prn nurse

Getting cardiac outputs with saline "iced down" in 5 cc syringes.

Isn't that still done? I remember doing that in the '90s--used to have a whole plastic graduate filled with crushed ice; in it would be syringes of injectable NS that you had drawn up and refrigerated. Isn't that still protocol for a Swan, to get cardiac outputs? What is recommended practice now?

Furball · Sep 18, 2002

Originally posted by prn nurse
I'll be glad when leeches are history ! We still use them routinely for microvascular and some plastic surgeries!

Getting cardiac outputs with saline "iced down" in 5 cc syringes. [/quote
Uh-oh...we STILL do that but with 10cc syringes. I'm new to ICU....that isn't done anymore with iced NS?

stevierae · Sep 18, 2002

Originally posted by Furball
Originally posted by prn nurse
Getting cardiac outputs with saline "iced down" in 5 cc syringes. [/quote

Uh-oh...we STILL do that but with 10cc syringes. I'm new to ICU....that isn't done anymore with iced NS?
Read my post above yours, Furball---I thought we did, too. We used, and still use, iced NS in 10 cc syringes to get cardiac outputs through a Swan--doesn't EVERYONE?
Are Furball and I the only ones utilizing an obsolete practice?

OBNURSEHEATHER · Sep 18, 2002

:rotfl: :rotfl: Don't know how I missed this thread? After 4 years, I still consider myself a newbie of sorts, and haven't really got anything to share. But man, some of these are hilarious!

I have heard about suctioning infants using your own, er, suction. Totally repulsive!

We still hand out donuts on our unit, and I've never understood why. Just doesn't make sense to me that that is beneficial, but as Mark said, the customer (mom) is always right.

Heather

Sjackson983 · Sep 18, 2002

I haven't iced cardiac output syringes for 16 years. We use a continuous system that has the D5W tubing and syringe all hooked up to the swan. We never have to disconnect anything.

KP RN · Sep 19, 2002

Anybody still use gentian violet??

How bout breaking needles after giving injections??

sunnygirl272 · Sep 19, 2002

Originally posted by KP RN
Anybody still use gentian violet??
How bout breaking needles after giving injections??

dunno if anyone still uses gentian violet....

but breaking needles???are you nutz?!?!?!!?!??!