Specializes in Med./Surg., Diabetes, Med. ICU, home hea.
"Thanks for the memories" Wow, really brings me back (other than smoking @ the nursing stations and not being able to speak directly to physicians). One of my fondest memories (so as not to submit a duplicate) was during nursing school, 1st pediatric rotation, reconstituting an antibiotic. 70+ year old instructor (must have stood 5' 2") waddling up and slapping me across the face for using my thumb to flip off the top of a plastic saline (or sterile H2O) reconstitution solution into the garbage can (zing! Bounced around in there like a hockey puck before coming to rest) with a strict admonition to NEVER do that again! I was 6' 1", around 225 lbs. and buffed; I recall a brief notion of negasonic destruction, then just laughed. That was her last semester.
1. Narcotics keys, and the pain of determining the exact volume of the liquid roxicet bottle each count. Plus waiting to go home until the count was correct.
2. Using a manual cuff for BPs. I still loathe automatic cuffs with a passion.
3. Gravity drips and pressure bags for boluses.
4. Heat lamps applied to fresh postpartum bottoms.
5. Cloth diapers on babies in the nursery (yes really).
Ahhh, giving Demerol. And giving Phenergan IV. We really don't do either anymore. (Occasional Demerol for postop shivering but nothing else.)
When I was a baby nurse 15 years ago I was on a general surgery unit and we gave 100 Demerol/25-50 Phenergan in the same syringe, man...we gave that out like it was water! And the only time we ever used an IV pump was for blood. Everything else? Time tape.
If you miss paper charts and MARS, counting scheduled meds, kardex being king and using crank beds, just go work in psych. I love my job, but those are daily realities--we even reconcile our MARs by hand every week, checking back and forth with the chart for the handwritten orders. Like a piece of history, I tell ya.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
Candy "strippers"? Sign me up!