RN's that graduated before 1980...I need your help!!

NightNurseKathy · Oct 19, 2007

1. Why did you go into nursing?

I wanted to be a nurse from the time I was a little girl.

2. Where did you receive your education?

I was an LPN for 21 years. Became an RN in 1989 (sorry, but figured I qualified having been a nurse already!)

Graduated from Cochise College, in Douglas, Arizona for my RN

3. What kind of education did you receive?

RN-diploma, Associate's degree

4. What was taught in nursing school and how were clinical experiences structured?

The USUAL classes . Once I was into clinicals that was the focus from 7 to 3pm 3 days a week. Class was 2 days a week.

5. Who were your instructors and what were their level of education?

I don't have the particular names anymore. Been along time! But they were all Masters' prepared.

6. What were the conditions of the health care system during your education?

There were NO HMO's during either of my times of education. Medicare had just become a new deal for people WHILE I was in LPN school in 1966. The HMO was being TALKED about in the 80's.

7. What was nursing practice like at the time you were receiving your education?

We did NOT have the IV meds we have now. For that matter, equipment for starting IV's consisted of TAPE, betadine, and 2x2's. Central lines were ONLY in ICU.

8. Were nursing care plans utilized?

That has been ON GOING long as I can rememeber!

9. What differences do you see in standards of care now versus when you were in school?

Nursing care is FAR MORE DETAILED now. Patients are more critical when we get them. We monitor their HEARTS on our floor. That used to ONLY be in ICU.

Wound drainage systems were VERY new. The hemovac was the only one I remember 18 years ago. Isolation care has changed a GREAT deal as well. It was ALWAYS gloves, gown and mask, where today it is not.

10. What was the role of nursing on the health care team?

Nurses are part of the TEAM. If more Drs. Realized and respected the NURSE in his/her roll, things would be so much better!!!

11. Any other interesting facts, or differences between nursing then and now.

BIGGEST difference from the 60's to now... well nurses do NOT wear WHITE!! NO CAPS. NO WHITE stockings... and we wear PANTS now. That was a BIG NO NO years ago.

Oh, and one FUNNY one... when I went to nursing school in 1966, and rotated through the OR.... All the nurses were women, and all the DRS. Were MEN!

When I roated in 1988, all the nurses were MEN, and all the DRS. Were women!!!!

I will NEVER forget that one!

9. What differences do you see in standards of care now versus when you were in school?

FAR MORE STRICT!!!! A GOOD thing!

10. What was the role of nursing on the health care team?

Carry out the Drs. Orders!!!! Give INPUT to the Dr. regarding the patient to HELP the Dr. with decisions to benefit the patient. Do the best you can for your patient, that is what matters in the long run!

11. Any other interesting facts, or differences between nursing then and now.

YES. As a student I wore a White nylon pinafore with a blue blouse, and CAP in 1966, in 1988 I wore ALL WHITE uniform, and NO cap! PANTS too!

OH, and PILLS were NOT unit dose like now, and BELIEVE it or not, we actually injected ordered doses of KCL into IV bags!!!

We also gave Insulin WITHOUT someone to check it! EEKK.

We did NOT give heparin like now , I believe that was only in ICU!

One thing I can say, is I still LOVE NURSING after all these years!

princenina · Oct 19, 2007

1. why did you go into nursing?

just sort of happened, thats more or less what girls who didn't want to be school teachers did in 1974.

2. where did you receive your education? in what year did you graduate?

hospital trained, 400 bed base hospital which did every thing but ob and gyn. graduated march 1978

3. what kind of education did you receive? (rn-diploma, associate's degree, bsn?)

hospital trained r.n, b.app sc.(nursing) years later.

4. what was taught in nursing school and how were clinical experiences structured? (more class time than clinical time, etc.)

one 6 week block at commencement, three more six week blocks followed by exams over the next three years then final examinations.

5. who were your instructors and what were their level of education?

nurse educators, generally with at least a dip of nursing education, some with a bachelor degree. many lectures later in our training done by members of the medical profession.

6. what were the conditions of the health care system during your education?

state funded universal health care accessible to all australians. i trained in a major public hospital.

7. what was nursing practice like at the time you were receiving your education?

when i trained my training school was trialling patient allocation/ team nursing rather than the previously used task oriented model.... where a junior nurse spent all day worrying about bed pans and fluid balance charts.

8. were nursing care plans utilized?

yes

9. what differences do you see in standards of care now versus when you were in school?

my suspicion is that there is no reasonable comparison, patients are sicker, surgery is more complex, turnover is higher. certainly we spent a lot of time straightening bed wheels and pleating curtains, activities which don't occur now... thank heavens, i think work loads are very different so comparisons are not worth much.

10. what was the role of nursing on the health care team?

while nurses were part of the team, generally the surgeon or physician called the shots, having said that there was a real notion of it being "my" ward as far as communication, ward rounds etc went..

11. any other interesting facts, or differences between nursing then and now.

the world is very different, dress code, titles, documentation, medication management, and probably more than anything the potential for litigation which haunts us all.

my experience is australian, i trained between jan. 1975 and march 1978. after that i worked in many areas of health care including remote area nursing as a sole practitioner, o.r. aged care and surgical wards.

much has changed yet much remains the same. generally nurses in australia work very hard in an under resourced health service to do the very best for those under their care. this generation is probably less constrained by the old hierarchy which was the bane of my life but patients are much sicker and more critical/questioning of the care they are given.

hope this is of interest if not actual help.

good luck with what ever research you are undertaking.

wendy

TrudyRN · Oct 19, 2007

help! - any rn's that graduated before 1980
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i'm a nursing student. i am looking for an rn that graduated before 1980 to answer the following questions for an assignment in my seminar class.
1. why did you go into nursing? so i could help people in crisis.
2. where did you receive your education? in what year did you graduate? 1975 big teaching hospital and its next-door neighbor peds hospital and a state psych hospital
3. what kind of education did you receive? (rn-diploma, associate's degree, bsn?) diploma then bsn then np msn
4. what was taught in nursing school and how were clinical experiences structured? (more class time than clinical time, etc.) fundamentals, m/s i, ii, and iii, peds, psych, ob, nutrition - don't know how much class vs. clinical - lots of both
5. who were your instructors and what were their level of education? not sure - probably diploma grads like myself who had some practical experience in the area they taught
6. what were the conditions of the health care system during your education? no hmo's, docs in charge and they were 98% men, we had to vacate chairs for them and for nurses, we were taught to help, observe, report findings, question courteously, not be doormats but also not totally assertive, keep patient's best interest at forefront
7. what was nursing practice like at the time you were receiving your education? not sure what you are asking
8. were nursing care plans utilized? yes
9. what differences do you see in standards of care now versus when you were in school? not sure how to answer except that i think most nurses were wonderful people with high standards back then and same today but today nurses are in a mad race with the clock and guess who loses and who wins - nurses and patients lose and insurers and bosses win
10. what was the role of nursing on the health care team? we were with the patients 24 /7, we were docs' eyes, ears, hands, we were (at least, i felt) respected and appreciated, we did all baths, bedmaking, orders, feeding, turning, bedpanning, vs, charting, admitting and discharging, etc., we had transporters and some aides, a secretary on d and e shifts, not always on weekends and holidays, though;
11. any other interesting facts, or differences between nursing then and now. we had to live in the dorm if unmarried, had curfew, were allowed to work only 1 shift per week and that was after we'd had fundamentals, most of us were very young and single, only a few males per class, only 2 or 3 married per class, we had to wear caps, we were mostly terrified of our teachers, docs, etc.
i appreciate your help!!

i hope this helps.

Mechi · Feb 7, 2008

1. why did you go into nursing?

i always wanted to go to africa as missionary,but it was to far away so i decided to joint the red cross as volunteer when i was 15 years old to learn first aid twice a week /4hours afternoon while going to my high school. i fall in love with florence nightingale's nurses school graduates job/values in the institution oversees . i was very impressed with the swiss nurses. so i decided to become a nurse and haunted a full degree to achieve my goals and knowledge in the usa.

2. where did you receive your education? in what year did you graduate?

i graduated from my ba app bs (old fashion degree)biology and chemistry in houston ,tx . i moved with my husband to small town in florida and the only nursing school was daytona beach community college

3. what kind of education did you receive? (rn-diploma, associate's degree, bsn?) aa nursing degree i already had all the requirements met from my ba ,to start in my nursing program 2 more years. then i received cs critical care nurse .

4. what was taught in nursing school and how were clinical experiences structured? (more class time than clinical time, etc.)

i had an excellent program 3 days clinicals 2 days classes. fundamentals, m/s i, ii, and iii, peds, psych, ob, nutrition - d/h class vs. clinical - lots of both. it was an excellent program in achieve practice 5. who were your instructors and what were their level of education?

they were from boston retiree nurses from nurses corp vietnam war(some japanese, philipinnes ,and americans), i am sure they had good education maybe some aa,ba or bs but their experience were beyond learning in the school.

6. what were the conditions of the health care system during your education?

we did not have a lot of administrative burocratic personnel,we had the preseptorship ,teacher /educator and manager.the communication was direct and informative to the nurses students .the doctors and nurses were very respectful and the patient care and care plan was very important to meet the patient outcome.

in every post clinical meeting our clinical educator will teach us something new for us to learn or investigate .ex: i learned swan -ganz catheter/wound care/trauma/how to teach new students in post conference and never being in icu/er/burn unit at the time.

a lot of learning at the time was done at bedside as clinical rounds with md's and rn's

7. what was nursing practice like at the time you were receiving your education?

for me was the best,i think still being the best compare with the clinical practice i see on new bs /msn today

Mechi · Feb 7, 2008

Continuation to previous page (computer shut down)

8. Were nursing care plans utilized? Yes

9. What differences do you see in standards of care now versus when you were in school?

The clinical experience as graduates,new nurses are preceptor,educators supervisors and managers within a year.This was not possible in the past ,experience ladder in years was important.The new technology with internet access communication is braking the patient -nurse-MD/nurse to nurse relationdship,accuity increasing less time for patients.The need to discharge the patients home obstacle in the follow up discharge instructions for the patient at home.The needs of the patient emotionally and physically at home is not well documented or discussed. Health care is risen in cost and pressure in the hospital administrators and managers to speed up care.Rushing pt's out of the hospital so soon.So they come back again sicker.Poor follow up with same PMD,to many doctors due to insurance changes .

10. What was the role of nursing on the health care team?

To be involved with their patients and all the health team involved with the patient,we were the eyes,ears,and voice of the patient and families concerns.Communicate any finding with the doctor and promote safetiness to the patient before discharge home.Medication teaching and follow up with their primary MD. I felt very appreciated and happy at the end of the day.We did not have so much negative non constructive behaviors in our co workers or peers,we were very busy with our hands full of patients and responsabilities to care

.

11. Any other interesting facts, or differences between nursing then and now.

Yes. In the past we rely in experiences nurses to learn and survived if we were graduates . Now,the new generation have more academic education and less hospitality manners to treat peers or patients. Sometimes they behaved like Executive enterpreteurs instead of good samaritans as our career mission stated.

The new teaching is changing more toward administrator field than bedside fields,Good researchers in the field will write papers in the future 2010-2020 about nursing shortage at bedside vs high degree paid nurses leaving the profession to and easy managerial positions(no holidays/weekeds /8-5pm and over 90kto150k per year,they will no longer stay at 29$/h). The patients will loose care due to computerize writing,increase economy and less time with their daily provider.We the new generations of baby boomers will feel the diferent in the future of our own care.The acuity is risen the new nurses will have less time at bedside to know the patient well. I hope the school of nurses will start teaching the root of nursing career and the foundation of such a beutiful degree again to avoid the detachment of human needs and illness care vs technology and paper /economy rushing care.

I am happy to see new changes in my career but we need to keep in mind always the humand side and ENHANCE AND CONGRATULATE the wonderful role nurses in our society.

Everybody is born with a nurse and will die with a nursing touch.