Being told that, except for sterile procedures, wearing gloves was disrespectful to the patient !
Yes!!! I questioned my nursing structures when we were told IN CLASS that we were to do a specific procedure that would likely expose us to blood or other body fluids from the patient sans gloves, WHY were supposed to allow that to happen? We were told right out that we certainly didn't want to make the patient feel bad, like we were afraid they would contaminate US by wearing gloves when we touched them!
Well....this was 1978-9, and guess what was getting ready to come barreling down on us from around the corner PDQ?? Then it became a matter of self preservation, not a matter of "insulting" anybody!
Ahh - I recognize that picture. They were observing surgery from that vantage point. The Probationers down in front, where they can get the best view; then their slightly older sisters who have already made it through the Probationary period, and have earned their caps and apron bibs, and the striped student nurse uniform. And so on, up the ranks and the seats.
I think that one appeared on the cover of a 1938 issue of Life Magazine! There was an article inside regarding the "Nurses Training Program" of the hospital back then, IIRC. I think I may have that one, since I collect Life Magazine issues that deal with subjects of which I have an interest. Nursing being primary! I have several that I could afford at the time.
Crank beds! Anyone besides me have scars on their shins from someone not putting the handle back in? What about glass chest tube containers, or autoclaving the bedpans? Oh, the biggie no gloves except for sterile procedures. Yep just kept those gloves mostly for the Docs (if they would even use them).
I remember my nose wouldn't stop bleeding as a youth and they used cocaine for surgical procedure in the 80s.
I scrubbed numerous ENT cases, up a nose for anything at all, where the surgeon would not only apply cocaine flakes (which the Circulator retrieved either from the narcotics cabinet or the Pyxis, depending on when and where this happened) with a long cotton tipped, metal stemmed applicator which he constructed just for that case from sterile cotton and the sterile, reusable metal applicator with a knurled handle from the ENT instrument set, liberally up the patient's nose. This occured after the patient was fully anesthetized and intubated, and BEFORE injecting the mucosa with epi, both to shrink not only the mucosal tissues, but the blood vessels inside the nose as well. (I think some may have used NeoSynephrine instead, but this was back in the mid-90's, and I haven't scrubbed ENT in ages. But the rest I AM sure about.)
This gave him an almost bloodless field in which to operate, which provided a much better field of vision, which was very important inside such a small space, and less trauma from poking around inside there with the suction tip trying to keep the field clear.
The entire contents of the cocaine bottle was dispensed, with a bit of vigorous shaking by the nurse from a metal pull tab capped, rubber stopper sealed, dark brown bottle, into a small sterile aluminum bowl from the instrument set, which I passed off to a sterile prep stand field the nurse had set up, so that the cocaine could be put inside it, along with the applicator handles and a sterile pack of cotton. The doc would glove himself to do the initial application and injection, then go scrub or foam, and the patient would be draped by me and the circulator while he did that.
The unused cocaine flakes remained in the metal bowl until the end of the case, in full sight of room staff, and then the remaining epi in the syringe was dispensed into the bowl, effectively ruining the cocaine, and while the anesthesiologist and the RN watched (and so did I) the doctor swiped up the contents of the bowl with the remaining cotton from the package, and tossed it away in the "red box," lost and gone forever, Clementine!
Should have been *"instructors"*!! NOT "structures" - I have been having troubles with my keyboard on my smart(?)phone not responding correctly to what I'm actually typing, therefore, the "SpellGuess" isn't reacting correctly either! I am trying to double check and correct any errors I find before posting, and before I run out of Edit time, but I guess I must have missed that one! Sorry!
What's a chat about the old days without a few visuals? *LOL*
L&D 1950's
Notice nurse stands dead in front of camera blocking total view of patient for modesty and privacy.
L&D 1970's
Only twenty years later and things seem *more* uptight than before. Leather restraints? Why not bring out a piece of wood for laboring mom to be to bite down upon.
Notice lots of moving about of mother; labor room to delivery room, then to recovery and finally her own room. Those nurses must have built up some strong arm and leg muscles pushing all those beds and bassinettes all day. Notice as well the new mother is not only waited on hand and foot, but has little interaction with her baby. Nurse even dresses, swaddles and carries the newborn for discharge.
Introducing Pampers!
Truly revolutionary. *LOL* No more pins, heavy soaked and soiled diapers that often leaked
Early Pampers were not that much different than Chux.
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
SmilingBluEyes said:
I remember nurses being something like "gods". If a nurse wagged her finger and told me to be "good and quiet", I was scared enough never to question her. Must have been all that white from head to toe. They were authorities. Anyhow, this, again, is a memory from my childhood hospitalization.
Yeah, SmilingBlueEyes, when I was in the hospital for a tonsillectomy at the age of seven, when the nurse asked me a question, even though I didn't understand it, I knew I should tell her what she wanted to hear.
Of course, my knowledge of medical terminology wasn't then what it is today.
Anyone old enough when patients weren't texting a blow by blow account of their health care experience to their friends? No looking to their phones instead of listening to patient teaching? No panic attacks because they forgot their charger? No Facebook updates with pics of their IV site, stitches, hospital room?
Did anyone say nursing hats? I can't even remember what they were called. Caps! Applied at a capping ceremony.
And you could identify the rank of a nurse by the color of her pantyhose - RN's wore white and LPN's wore nude.
And getting in trouble if the open side of the pillow case faced the door. They should always face away from the door. Perhaps in case the pillow was contemplating an escape.
And I have to ditto the comment about standing and giving your chair to the Dr when he arrived at the nursing station.
We tied a knot in the bottom sheet to prevent the patient from dying on our shift!
Problem with knots is that some nurses either via previous military training or perhaps Boy or Girl Scouts made them so the next person couldn't untie. Then what usually happened is the entire sheet was slipped off the bed and sent to the wash. By and by complaints would come up from the laundry (who obviously had the same difficulty) via the nursing hierarchy DON-Supervisor-Staff that knots were *NOT* to be tied on hospital linen.
Of course people did what they had to do regardless. The result was when queried the response was one familiar to mothers; "I Dunno" and "Not Me" were the usual culprits. This and or you made sure the offending knots were untied before things went into laundry bag.
I am trying to double check and correct any errors I find before posting, and before I run out of Edit time, but I guess I must have missed that one! Sorry!
SurgicalTechCST
58 Posts
Yes!!! I questioned my nursing structures when we were told IN CLASS that we were to do a specific procedure that would likely expose us to blood or other body fluids from the patient sans gloves, WHY were supposed to allow that to happen? We were told right out that we certainly didn't want to make the patient feel bad, like we were afraid they would contaminate US by wearing gloves when we touched them!
Well....this was 1978-9, and guess what was getting ready to come barreling down on us from around the corner PDQ?? Then it became a matter of self preservation, not a matter of "insulting" anybody!