The nursing profession, as a whole, as well as the role of the nurse have evolved dramatically over the past several decades. I personally have witnessed the changing face of nursing during my 30+ years in the profession. Gone are the days when nurses were thought of as little more than helpers or assistants for physicians. Today's nurses are healthcare professionals in their own right, playing an important and vital role in providing excellent healthcare.
Looking back to when I was in nursing school, and then starting my nursing career, I remember many things that are no longer in use, or things that have transformed over the years. Gone are the days of paper chart, replaced with electronic medical records. Gone are the nursing caps that distinguished the nurse from the rest of the healthcare team.
Here is a partial list of things I remember from days gone by.
Back in the day...
Team nursing
Primary care nursing
Longer patient stays (Patients were actually able to recuperate in the hospital rather than being sent home too soon. There was no such thing as same-day surgery.)
Nurses wore uniforms which consisted of white dresses, white hose, white lace-up oxford shoes, and, of course ... white nursing caps!
Only OR staff and physicians wore scrubs.
The Kardex, a large folded card, was used as an important document of all patient activities, meds, etc. And it was hand-written in pencil so it could be erased and updated as needed. Talk about document tampering!
Requisitions were composed on a typewriter.
Patients were called Mr. or Mrs.
Gloves were used for sterile procedures only. Universal precautions did not exist.
The only lifting machines we had were male aides ... and of course ourselves.
Nurses bent and broke off needles from used syringes
IV pumps were used only in Peds and ICU. Nurses had to calculate the drip rate using the second hand on their watch and a roller clamp to regulate the flow.
Heavy glass IV bottles were still in use
The charge nurse made rounds with the doctors ... and carried the heavy metal charts.
When a doctor arrived at the nurses' station, it was expected that a nurse would stand up and offer her seat....and the doctor never refused
Male nurses were very rare
Cold metal bedpans were offered to patients.
All patients were offered a daily bath and back rub
There were no fitted sheets. Remember hospital corners??
Glass thermometers were still in use.
Nurses notes and vital signs were recorded using a pen with 4 colors of ink as different colors of ink were used on different shifts. Actually, only 3 were used since there were 3 shifts.
Surgery patients were admitted the night before surgery so their preps could be started that evening.
Nurses smoked in the nurses' lounge.
Cancer was almost always a death sentence
Medicine was dispensed by the med nurse carrying a tray with small paper cups of pills and different colored med cards.
Four-year BSN programs were not as plentiful. Most nurses graduated from hospital-based Diploma or ASN programs.
State boards were 2 grueling days of exams that were completed with number 2 pencils. No computerized tests in those days.
Feel free to add items that you remember from the past, even if that past does not seem that long ago. Changes are occurring at an even faster pace in the digital and electronic age of today. What do you think of some of the changes???
I'd be curious what school of nursing they attended with those pointy caps. Anybody got a guess???
Now it would definitely be that infamous cap that got tangled up in curtains and hanging tubings.
Some of the most famous caps for getting tangled in curtains, tubings and ortho equipment were those from the schools run and or affiliated with Catholic hospitals. Many such as the famous Saint Vincent's NYC caps were based on nun's coronets thus often had a "winged" appearance. That and most were designed to be worn towards the front (if not sloping down) of the head. All this meand one had to move one's head like something out of "The Thunder Birds" to avoid butting one's head against something. That or if not anchored properly the thing could slide right off your head into a sterile field, would/dressing change, bed pan (most always full), emesis basin (ditto) . Also because it was on the front of your head it made an attractive target for infants and young children to yank upon.
This picture was taken from the last graduation class of Saint Vincent's School of Nursing on Staten Island. The program was taken over by a for profit company and now called Saint Paul's.
Do any of you collect some of these antiquated nursing things, I.e. caps, capes, syringes etc? I just find them all fascinating and was thinking about starting a collection...
There are quite a few collectors of vintage nurse's items (uniforms, caps, capes, bags, etc.... ) out there. Have seen very rare or exclusive caps (John Hopkins for instance) go for *BIG* money on eBay. We are speaking of several hundred dollars for something everyone claims no one wears anymore and are not relevant to the profession.
Some caps and school items are on the level of holy grail and rarely come onto the market. When they do prices are very high. Bellevue, Philadelphia Hospital, and a list of other school caps, student uniforms and so forth rarely are found on the "open market" so to speak. IIRC while Kay's Caps and other such vendors have the patterns for hundreds of current and defunct nursing school caps, there are those they do not and or require some sort of authorization to make.
At one point there were over 4K hospital based and other schools of nursing in the USA. Most every single one had a cap (excluding the programs exclusively for male nurses). It seems a shame no one has done a book to catalog as many of such programs, their caps and student uniforms. Believe it or not there is one or perhaps a handful of such books on religious orders showing habits, so go figure.
*Edit*
A word regarding cap wearing etiquette. In theory one should not wear a cap on is not entitled to, that is one did not attend and graduate from the school in question. In the old days professors and instructors wore their own school caps at functions such as graduations or on the floors, not that of their current employer. Therefore even if one collects caps and decides to wear one to work say for Nurse's Day or just because be forewarned there are still plenty of nurses out there that get defensive about their school's cap. Just as with sororities and rings these nurses have very firm ideas about who has the "right" to wear the thing.
Am firmly convinced for instance that the reason you see so few "Bellevue Fluff" caps lying about spare is that graduates are taking the things to their graves! *LOL* That you have to pry the thing out of their cold dead hands. So if you are working say in a NYC hospital and managed to get your hands on a Bellevue cap, it may not be at all surprising if someone comes up to you and starts talking about the school assuming you are an alumni.
Of course the other big thing is school pins. Two words; "just don't". *LOL*
Have not even (nor will) begin to touch upon the whole "stripe" versus "no stripe" thing. If you went to a program that entitles you to use a stripe, then you already are sorted. If not and or are unclear you better ask somebody. *LOL*
How much are the afore mentioned clinic brand shoes? I found a couple of 1940s patterns - not nurse dresses, but I will change that.
Even though we are being trained for electronic charting and records, I want to learn how to do all of my calculations manually..........just in case.......
I consider myself real 'old style'. There are things that I wish could have stayed, but then many other improvements have also been made. For instance, spending more time with patients.....I do not quite want to spend every hour of my day charting or passing meds.......I have two more semesters to figure it out!
Who remembers, polishing their Clinic Nursing shoes before Clinical, and because the white shoelaces would also get grubby, dipping the shoelaces in Clorox, as well, to get them white!
Nurses and Doctors smoking at the desk while charting,i was taught how to insert foley cath. and how to remove an IV as a nurses aide, anyone remember the many tailed binders?when woman in labor had an enema and pubic area shaved,really fun to do when woman was in active labor
Not only did thermometers and sphygs have mercury in them, we used a needle and syringe to put liquid mercury into a rubber pouch at the end of a flexible ng tube and then wormed the pouch down a patient's nose and had them try to swallow it. It was called a Cantor tube and was meant to try to open a bowel obstruction. Now it sounds almost as bad as blood letting or using live leeches!
The only one I remember was a Volutrol. You added about 100 cc to an 8 inch long cylinder so you couldn't bolus more than that amount. You couldn't get a free flow of the whole bag or bottle. We used to use it for TPN.
DoGoodThenGo
4,133 Posts
Some of the most famous caps for getting tangled in curtains, tubings and ortho equipment were those from the schools run and or affiliated with Catholic hospitals. Many such as the famous Saint Vincent's NYC caps were based on nun's coronets thus often had a "winged" appearance. That and most were designed to be worn towards the front (if not sloping down) of the head. All this meand one had to move one's head like something out of "The Thunder Birds" to avoid butting one's head against something. That or if not anchored properly the thing could slide right off your head into a sterile field, would/dressing change, bed pan (most always full), emesis basin (ditto) . Also because it was on the front of your head it made an attractive target for infants and young children to yank upon.
This picture was taken from the last graduation class of Saint Vincent's School of Nursing on Staten Island. The program was taken over by a for profit company and now called Saint Paul's.