remember when....?

Not ALLOWED to wear gloves unless you were doing a sterile procedure; poop, puke, didn't matter! Washed hands even more X just to get rid if the poop smells!...All bedpans were metal;and no disposable pads or wipes.....Halo frames had full-body PLASTER body casts; would cut out "windows" if sores developed.....Urine-test for sugar:ten drops urine in glass tube, five drops of urine, add a tablet, wait 30-60 seconds holding tube by TOP, because the bottom of the tube got REALLY HOT! Match color in tube to color on chart + sometime very difficult to decide which color it matched......and here's how old I am:No individually wrapped pills; Medicine cart was "open"; in other words, full bottles of meds, including percodan (!!!) on tiers or "steps" on top of cart + the only meds in locked med- room were injectable narcs. Med cards were two-inch squares and fit in a slot directly behind med cup; Med trays were lind of like tiny cupcake baking pans, but molded plastic, could be for six med-cups, up to twenty-four .......Lots and lots of older pts. had indwelling foleys long-term......and the charting ! If nothing unusual happened on the shift.....GET THIS! You'd write "Status quo" and sign your name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, all of that, but the other thing that sticks in my mind are gastric lavages for GI bleeds; hours and hours of this in ICU at the time.I just laugh now at all the drugs that are now "controlled" by the PYXIS, when 30 years ago I MIXED antibiotics and narcotic drips; now I have to enter a code for tylenol.