You know you're Old School when...

Nurses General Nursing

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Oh dear I really have set myself off on a trip down memory lane!! Recently a doctor called me "very old school" I think it was meant as a complement but unsurprisingly I was horrified but to be fair when I look back so many things have changed so.... so you know your old school when you remember......

Metal bed pans that had to be washed in the bedpan washer. Kind nurses used to warm them with hot water as they were freezing cold and would have patients hopping off the bed :)

Female nurses only being allowed to wear dresses and hats. The number of stripes on your hat indicated how long you had been training and when qualified you got a cotton one with lace trim. Evil things they were you used to spend half your life pinning them back as confused patients knocked them off

Unless you were married you had to live in the nurses home whilst training. Lights were meant to be out by 11pm and the house mother used to do spot checks on the rooms to make sure no men were hidden away!!!!:redbeathe Once a month an army bus used to come and pick all the student nurses up and take them back to the barracks were 300 army boys were waiting for a free disco, free food, free drink and far to much free love :)

We were not allowed to tell patients our first name and were called Student Nurse Smith. When a patient died we would dress them in a shroud, put a flower in their folded hands and then they would e wrapped in a sheet. A window would be left open to allow their soul to leave. They would go off to Rose Cottage, never called the mortuary. The nurse in charge would always say "there be 2 more before the week's out" as in those days people only ever died in threes!!!!

The wards were long open plan called Nightingale wards. 15 patients down each side. We had a back trolley and every two hours would work our way up and down the ward turning and cahnging every patient. We used to rub something onto pressure areas but I can't remember what it was. If you had lots of dependent patients then it was like painting the forth bridge - as soon as you had finished it was time to go round again!!! At Christmas a huge tree would be delivered and we would decorate the beds with tinsel - wouldn't be allowed today becuase of infection risks.

Consultant ward rounds were like a royal visit. They occured at the same time on set days. The Consultant would only talk with the Sister and you were expected to have every pt in bed, sheet folded to middle of the chest looking tidy!!!!! Never figured out how to make a pt look tidy.

Getting your silver nurses buckle was like a right of passage. As soon as you got your results from your final exams the whole set headed off to the only jewellers that stocked buckles and chose their badge. I still wear mine but it's fair to say the belt is notably bigger :yeah:

Male nurses and female doctors were rare. Now in my department we have more male nurses than female definitely a change for the better.

We took temperatures with a glass mercury filled thermometer covered in a disposable plastic cover and BP's were taken with a manual syphg and stethescope.

I am sure there are more but please other old school nurses share your memories with me :)

Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.

Yes, betadine and sugar! Something as simple as that, then along came the granulex spray, then all the other fancy schmancy treatments, when the betadine and sugar healed the decubiti in a fraction of the time!

Specializes in med/surg; LTC.....LPN, RN, DON; TCU.

Being in the medical profession for over 30 years and a third generation nurse its like hearing the stories from my mom and grandmother. In 1979 latex gloves were seldom used and what was the name of the single steel bar used to apply traction on fx femurs? I think I just dated my start in EMS experiences!! :lol2:

Some other things I remember that I don't see done in Hosptials anymore, every night at the beginning if the 11-7 shift, each pt got their face washed, peri area washed, teeth brushed, back rub with lotion,and a clean draw sheet on their bed, then VS taken, and tucked in for a restful nights sleep, as sleep used to be considered a great healing treatment, as oposed to now where we drug up our pts. And before leaving the pts bedside make sure the call button is cliped where the pt can reach it, and remind them to use it if they need something.

OMG! Girl you just took me back!

As a NA worked many a night shift, and yes even in the 1980's that is how we did "PM" care.

The lotion was those little white bottles of "Alpha Keri" with blue lettering.

You could be told off for leaving the call light too far from the bed.

For patients going to the OR in the morning and thus NPO after 12M or so, I was always instructed to empty their water pitcher, rinse it out and turn it upside down (to dry). If patient had gone up to the OR before I finished my shift, would strip the bed and remake "post-op" style.

Often instead of toothbrushes and toothpaste we used what looked like swabs on the end of a lollipop stick. Name escapes me (it has been years since one has seen them), but they came in a sealed pack. We also used them for patients who were "NPO" to keep their mouths and lips moist in lieu of giving water.

Specializes in A and E, Medicine, Surgery.

Oh dear the teeth cleaning that brings back memories of my first ever nursing student placement........

It was the end of the night shift and Sister She Who Must Not Be Questioned said "Nurse please go and clean the teeth belonging to the patients on the west side of the ward. Eager to please and keen as mustard off I went. 2 Can't be that difficult I thought collecting up 12 sets of dentures in pots. Never had teeth had such a good scrub than they had that morning. Never will I forget the look of total horror on the Sister's face when she realised her new, somewhat clueless student nurse, namely me, had collected the entire lot in without labelling them with names. That took some sorting as you can imagine!!!

What was worse was I went back to the nurses home ready to quit and all my fellow student nurses were unable to sympathise as they were rolling about the floor at my expense!!! :)

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Often instead of toothbrushes and toothpaste we used what looked like swabs on the end of a lollipop stick. Name escapes me (it has been years since one has seen them), but they came in a sealed pack. We also used them for patients who were "NPO" to keep their mouths and lips moist in lieu of giving water

Lemon-glycerin swabs? Yum. Here's a few from pediatrics:

Washed hands with PhisoHex. It was in a green bottle. Then it was banned because it was shown that the hexachlorophene was absorbed into skin. Then we had that brown gak Betadine in the soap dispenser. Sure, it stripped the skin off my hands, but remember we weren't wearing gloves or using sanitizers, which I hate because I always visualize it rubbing something icky into skin that should have been rinsed off first.

The laundry dept would send up a massive stack of unfolded cloth diapers which we would then fold in different ways depending on the size of the child. Pampers had been invented then, but they were only used on the smallest babies who needed strict I & O. We would weigh all the Pampers and write how many grams each weighed on the diaper with a pen. Then we would weigh it again after the baby voided. Most patients we would just write void x1, etc.

We would have a whole slew of babies in full body casts of solid plaster with a metal bar separating their legs which was pretty strange feeling to pick up.

Our dietary and central supply were located right on the unit near the nurse's station. We called it "the crib". Babies with diarrhea often were ordered on "constipating solids". Rice baby cereal flakes and bananas were mixed with formula and fed to the baby with a bottle. If it was really thick we would enlarge the nipple hole with a blade but generally speaking that was a big no-no for obvious reasons!!

If a baby was on advance diet we started with 25% Jello water(always red) mixed with glucose water, then half-strength, etc. No Pedialyte.

Glass thermometers and almost ALL temps axillary. Woo-whoo! Hold child's arm down for 10 minutes!! Isolation gowns were cloth, and so much more comfortable for taking care of children under hot lights.

This is fun!!

What a good laugh ,remembering

keep them comming.................

Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.

I was chatting with a coworker this morning befor finishing my shift, and we were reminicing about the "good ol' days" and remembering how we used to look vs now, now we have many different colors and prints to our uniforms, wear different colored sneakers, clogs, and shoes along as they are "sensible" shoes meaning no open toe. Used to we wore white uniform dresses, "White Swan" was the label everyone got, had to be washed, starched and pressed each wearing, our cap had to be kept clean and starched too. White support hose, and white oxford shoes, kept polished, and the laces were washed, starched and pressed too. And we didn't wear our white shoes outside the facility where we worked, so we carried a shoe bag, a cap bag, and our purse, and a bag for every thing else we carried to work. And instead of a coat, we had the dark blue nurses cape. That was short lived in the north country, in preference for a warm ski jacket. Finger nails had to be kept trimmed short enough you couldn't see or feel them for the pad side of the finger, no nail polish whatsoever. No jewlry except if you had ears pierced, you could wear one set of "dots." If you were married only your wedding band, and your watch, had to be simple design and have a second hand. No makeup was to be worn either, face had to be scrubbed clean as a baby's spanked bottom. And your hair could not touch the top of your collar, if you had short hair had to keep it cut, and if you had long hair had to keep it up in a french twist or a bun. How we looked as professional nurses reflected how we took care of our patients.

OOOO! Yes, I remember making a "post op" bed! And how many nurses remember making beds with only flat sheets? No fitted sheets. And, getting it tight enough to bounce a half dollar off!

Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.

If I'm thinking of the right traction splint, in EMS, what we use now, and have been for the better part of the past 20 years, is either a Hare splint, or a Sagar splint.

how to apply the hare traction splinthare traction splint - case study128533.jpg

this is fancier than i remember, but 32 years should bring some improvement!!

Specializes in School Nursing.

if you worked before there was hiv/aids ..

Specializes in Med/Surg.
OMG! Girl you just took me back!

As a NA worked many a night shift, and yes even in the 1980's that is how we did "PM" care.

The lotion was those little white bottles of "Alpha Keri" with blue lettering.

You could be told off for leaving the call light too far from the bed.

For patients going to the OR in the morning and thus NPO after 12M or so, I was always instructed to empty their water pitcher, rinse it out and turn it upside down (to dry). If patient had gone up to the OR before I finished my shift, would strip the bed and remake "post-op" style.

Often instead of toothbrushes and toothpaste we used what looked like swabs on the end of a lollipop stick. Name escapes me (it has been years since one has seen them), but they came in a sealed pack. We also used them for patients who were "NPO" to keep their mouths and lips moist in lieu of giving water.

These all sound like things I still do. We use swabs, take their water away, etc.

I also always offer PM care, there might not be a lot of time for it, and I find the majority of patients refuse ("I washed up this morning" or "I'll do it in the morning"). I still offer a back rub, especially when people sit up for the first time since surgery and their backs are full of creases from the lifter.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Geriatrics(LTC), Pediatricts,.

Yes, Morte, that is the same Hare tx splint I use on the squad. With the velcro straps now, that makes it easier to use. Older ones had to tie the straps. But it's only for femur fx's. We have a "frack pack" now, a fancy set of splits for legs, ankles, arms, and such. I still find myself using pillows and towels for splints, and tie it off with a roll of roller bandage, and secure the pt on a back board, then to the stretcher, old term "gerney."

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