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???
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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.
We called them "Burutrol" (although I don't have the vaguest idea now how to properly spell it) and infused our pressors with them. You dropped down enough for an hour, and counted the drops to make sure they were getting the correct dose. Heparin drips got a pump, but the pressors you titration to effect by either opening or closing the roller clamp. Sounds pretty archaic now.
Tubes such as NG's or abdominal That's attached to a bottle in a cart that's lower than the bed that has suction. It was used before there was wall suction.
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
Augh, the good old days...
Gomco Portable Gastric Drainage Aspirator
Fiddled with these many times on night shift to get suction to work AND responsible for emptying them --no eyeshields to prevent splashing in the 1970's.
Buretrol IV set is still used today, seen in pediatric units. See
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
Cantor Tubes still exist...
Still remember the night I dropped 10cc glass testube filled with mercury that shattered into tiny beads size of dippin-dots ice cream all over the nurses desk, rolling over the edge onto the floor underneath desk...took me 20 minutes with piece of cardboard to corral them into plastic urine container.
You instill mercury into smaller tube which fills and weights down balloon end
When I worked on the cardiac floor, we had a lot of patients admitted with chest pain/rule out MI. They were on cardiac monitors, and we kept them on bedrest with bathroom privileges. They were treated with oxygen, NitroPaste, Quinidine, etc, while we waited it out.
Now, we send them straight to the cath lab, and open up the arteries! They can come in with an acute MI and leave with no damage to the heart.
Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.
We called them "Burutrol" (although I don't have the vaguest idea now how to properly spell it) and infused our pressors with them. You dropped down enough for an hour, and counted the drops to make sure they were getting the correct dose. Heparin drips got a pump, but the pressors you titration to effect by either opening or closing the roller clamp. Sounds pretty archaic now.
WOW, you all have seen a lot! I hear stories of how everyone used to smoke at the nurses' station. It's so crazy to me when I think about it.
Not just the 'nurses' but also the doctors walked down the halls and smoked where ever they wanted. One in particular comes to mind who was ALWAYS smoking a cigar, even before performing surgeries.
Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
When I worked on the cardiac floor, we had a lot of patients admitted with chest pain/rule out MI. They were on cardiac monitors, and we kept them on bedrest with bathroom privileges. They were treated with oxygen, NitroPaste, Quinidine, etc, while we waited it out.
Now, we send them straight to the cath lab, and open up the arteries! They can come in with an acute MI and leave with no damage to the heart.
yes I remember as I worked CCU in '72, we waited at least six weeks post Mi, to revascularize.....
Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.
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!
When end I worked Texas Heart Center, late seventies, post cv surgery monitored with cvp, art line, foley, and chest tubes, we had a formula on volume replacement, pending data from those measures, and we frequently did 24 hearts a day.....(no typo).....
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
We called them "Burutrol" (although I don't have the vaguest idea now how to properly spell it) and infused our pressors with them. You dropped down enough for an hour, and counted the drops to make sure they were getting the correct dose. Heparin drips got a pump, but the pressors you titration to effect by either opening or closing the roller clamp. Sounds pretty archaic now.