Nursing Hx:Share Oldtime Ineffective tx's?

patsyh11 · Sep 21, 2002

How about Paraldehyde for DT's? The patients could either drink it (and they reeked of the awful smell) or you could give it to them IM with a glass syringe. And God help you if you dropped it-the nurses station/med room would stink for days......

JonRN · Sep 21, 2002

Urine tasting? I remember it fondly, we would sit around and discuss it afterwards like fine wine i.e. nice fruity flavor, spring like, a bit too sweet etc.

Pappy

sjsap · Sep 21, 2002

Originally posted by JonRN
Urine tasting? I remember it fondly, we would sit around and discuss it afterwards like fine wine i.e. nice fruity flavor, spring like, a bit too sweet etc.

Pappy

:roll I do hope you are kidding b/c I am laughing so hard I need to leave a sample.........

JonRN · Sep 21, 2002

At last!!!!!!!! Someone who appreciates my unusual sense of humor. I am used to threads dying the minute I post. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! You hve restored my faith in humanity!!!!!!

Pappy

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 22, 2002

My grandmother (who was a nurse during World War I) used to talk about Lysol douches.....Ouch!! :eek:

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Sep 25, 2002

Post gallbladder surgery when I was in nursing school we would drain the vial via latex tube from abd, walk out of room and return with the drained bile in a med cup for the pt to drink. We were instructed not to tell the pt where it came from or they would hork.

imenid37 · Sep 25, 2002

alcohol drip for ptl. in school we had heard of the cold wet sheet wrap for pt's. in psych. at the facility we went to, never saw it though. sounded scary. instructor (she was way kookier than the pt's.) said they wrapped them up like a mummy in these cold wet sheets. (circa 1985).

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2002

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

I worked at a facility that had a Gomco on the code cart! I died laughing remembering the M*A*S*H* episode where they were so happy to get their new suction, a Gomco! And here we were, in 1998...:chuckle

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2002

My 90 year old neighbor told me about when her kids were born, she had to stay in bed for a week and the nurses bathed her and she had to wear a girdle!!! :eek:

And they would tape a penny on the baby's umbilicus so he would have an "inny" How'd that work out for ya's??!!:roll :roll

outbackannie · Sep 27, 2002

I remember having to wash real sheepskins and then brush them with a wire brush for hours to get out all the knots before putting them under a patient. No such thing as chux in those days and

it always was inevitable as soon as you put a sheepskin you worked hours on under the patient, they had an accident.

and yes, I remember sharpening needles, glass IV bottles, gomco's, glass thermometers soaking in alcohol, spinning a glass rod in a tube filled with urine to read a specific gravity, dropping urine onto a blue tablet ( I think it was for sugar content) , betadine and sugar for decubs, etc. 8 hour shifts. ice water lavages, triple H enemas, standing at attention when a doctor came into a nurse's station. betadine douches, etc.

Only doctors were allowed to take BP's then. Nurses didn't even own a stethoscope.

Wow, really making me feel old today! This was only 25 yrs ago.

JonRN · Sep 27, 2002

Speaking of glass thermometers, I remember one time when I was in the army I got the bright idea to shake all the thermometers down at once. I put them all in a flannel sock-like thingy we used to cover up ice packs and started shaking them vigorously. The bottom ripped out of the cloth bags and thermometers flew everywhere!!!! Can you imagine the dose of mercury I was exposed to? Maybe that is what's wrong with me :)

I got in a lot of trouble with the wardmaster as I was a young soldier then. Never tried it again.

Pappy:D :D