What was IV tubing made of before the invention of plastics?

cnolan · Aug 19, 2005

Syringes and needles were metal. Im sure they must have been heat sterilized (boiled) for reuse. I know they reused the barrels of the syringe, but not sure about needles.
Doubt they had anything but S/S to detect oxygen levels (if their lips and nail beds turned purple they didnt have enough oxygen). Im not sure about gloves, im not so sure they didnt scrub and leave it at that. Maybe alcohol. Who knows the surgeon may have had a bottle of 100 proof stashed under the OR cart.
I think they put ether on a cloth or a screened mask like thing and held it over the nose and mouth to put a patient to sleep. At least that is what my mother told me as she remembered having her tonsils out when she was little.

I had an aunt who practiced during WWII and she said something once about having to sharpen her needles, because each nurse was only given one...so that meant after each patient, it had to be boiled or alcohol'd down and then sharpened for the next patient!

Hollyhock · Aug 20, 2005

My mother in law was a nurse wayyyy back when it was the nurses duty to clean and sweep the room. At night they had to put all the plants on the floor outside the room because they thought the plants would use up all the oxygen in the room. They had long sleves at that time and were not allowed out in the hall without the sleves being down to their wrist and buttoned, but when they were with the patient they rolled up the sleves to keep their uniform dry. They all did 12 hour shifts for 6 days and had to live at the hospital. If they got ingaged they were dismissed. She worked at John Hopkins when Blood Pressures became first known. They were not allowed to do a BP because it was considered too dangerous. She also worked as a privat duty nurse when a mother had a new child and went home from the hospital. It was her duty to take care of the mother and the child as well as all the children, do all the meals, laundry and household chores for all the family.

Warpster · Aug 20, 2005

Syringes and needles were metal. Im sure they must have been heat sterilized (boiled) for reuse. I know they reused the barrels of the syringe, but not sure about needles.
Doubt they had anything but S/S to detect oxygen levels (if their lips and nail beds turned purple they didnt have enough oxygen). Im not sure about gloves, im not so sure they didnt scrub and leave it at that. Maybe alcohol. Who knows the surgeon may have had a bottle of 100 proof stashed under the OR cart.

I'm old enough to have worked in a terribly primitive MICU in a state mental hosptial in the south. IV tubing was already plastic, regulation was done by roller clamp, wrist watch, and blood pressure cuff for drugs like levophed. Syringes were glass with steel needles. They were rinsed after use by staff and sent off to be autoclaved for reuse. (years later, I tested positive for HepBAb, and I figure that was the source). All IV solutions, blood, and the like came in glass bottles. All patient items like wash basins, bedpans, urinals, and the like were made of steel and washed with boiling water wall units between use. There were no pulse oximeters. If your patient was turning into a Smurf, it was a clear indication of lousy gas exchange and you hauled out an O2 sylinder. We did have nasal prongs instead of tents by then, thank goodness. Gloves were reserved for sterile procedures until universal precautions due to the HIV epidemic actually became universal.

There is no way we could cope with the staffing we have now with the equipment we had then. The equipment has come a long way in 40 years, even if administration hasn't caught on that the working conditions need their attention.