You Know You're an Old(er) Nurse If . . .

Nurses General Nursing

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You know you're an older nurse if:

1. You remember working with nurses who wore caps. :nurse:

2. You remember nurses (and doctors) sitting at the nurses station drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes while charting. :smokin:

3. You remember when charting was done (handwritten) in 3 different colors (black or blue for day shift, green for evening shifts, red for night shift).

4. You remember when IV fluids came only in glass bottles.

5. You remember when breast milk wasn't a biohazard. :redlight:

6. You remember when chest tube setups consisted of glass bottles, rubber stoppers, and tubing.

7. You remember when white polyester uniforms were the standard for nurses.

8. You remember when you'd have given your eye teeth for a comfortable pair of nursing shoes (we haven't always been able to wear athletic shoes).

9. You remember when the hospital's top nurse was the director of nursing and not the chief nursing officer.

10. You remember giving lots of IM shots for pre-ops and pain meds.

What else?

HollyVK (with patient care experience going back to 1972) :gandalf:

oh how annoying. I keep trying to google image the Stryker beds on this computer at work and keep getting intercepted by net nanny. Because of the adult film star by the same name?:roll :roll :roll

Anyone care to help me get a visual about what you're talking about?

Okay, I remember - The bedscale was green = it had a solid board that tipped up so you could push it up and down the hall - it had the ballancing weights. It lived in the equipment closet (dirty utility room) with the blood pressure machines that the wheels fell off of but you pull up and down the hall from room to room anyway. I remember when the Dimemapp BP machine came out. Hog Heaven! And do you remember the circle electric beds that had the sandwich boards....

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..

ice water for cardiac outputs...

(crying) You mean they don't do that anymore????

I guess I AM old!

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
oh how annoying. I keep trying to google image the Stryker beds on this computer at work and keep getting intercepted by net nanny. Because of the adult film star by the same name?:roll :roll :roll

Anyone care to help me get a visual about what you're talking about?

I'm pretty sure this is it. This is a 1950's photo (scroll down the page) - you see a canvas "stretcher" underneath, and a canvas "stretcher" on top of the patient, a little hole where their head peeks thru - and you "flip" them, just like in a grilled cheese sandwich maker! It's on ebay of all things! otherwise I couldn't find an image either.

eBay: 1950s WAF Nurse Demonstrates Use of Stryker Frame (item 6212960231 end time Jan-20-07 17:36:27 PST)

Specializes in Critical Care.
ok girls and guys....

ice water for cardiac outputs

Still do that here in our cath lab. Heck, we just got rid of the waters hood and the only reason for that is that they don't make the replacement parts anymore.

tvccrn

Specializes in Oncology, Cardiology, ER, L/D.
I remember when they injected a rabbit with a woman's urine and if the rabbit died the test was positive and the woman knew she was in the "family way".

Truth is the poor rabbit died either way. The ovaries of the rabbit were examined to see if they were affected by the urine indicating the presence of HCG and thereby confirming a pregnancy. Bizarre when you think about it. Really bizarre. But true! Thankfully we now have EPT's.

Wow, I would definitely agree and classify that as bizarre, wonder how they came up with that idea?:idea:

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

A Stryker frame--I think both "plinths" are there. And those little tables were for the patient to rest his/her arms on when prone. There were holes in the appropriate spots for bedpans. You had to pad the heck out of the pt's shoulders (and other spots). But if the pt had a bedsore on the sacrum or other wounds, the Stryker frame made it very easy to take care of the wound.

strykerbed.jpg

Specializes in Critical Care.
ok girls and guys....

ice water for cardiac outputs

"code blue" called overhead- there were no pagers....

...doing nightly weights on pts with the one and only bedscale...

They may hve eliminated those iced solution cardiac outputs in some places, but they are 'current technology' here! And yes, I can still order all the tubing and styrofoam ice buckets to hang on the patient's iv pole to get it all done. Nurses that hire here from elsewhere wonder what they have gotten themselves into! I had forgotten all about the big green bedscale! What a CHORE that was, going form room to room on night shift! It did make it a lot easier to make their bed, tho, while they were swinging mid-air!

:chuckle

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
"code blue" called overhead- there were no pagers.

We still page ours overhead.

Specializes in Research, ED, Critical Care.
ok girls and guys....

ice water for cardiac outputs

"code blue" called overhead- there were no pagers.

granulex for breakdown and bedsores.

doing nightly weights on pts with the one and only bedscale

if you tell a new nurse you took "paper boards" they look at you funny

Stryker frames!!! I forgot.... lol

calling the attending at 3am because his pt was arresting, and the house officer was running the code

taking the first ever ACLS class!!!!!!!! does anyone remember how horrible that was????

can't remember anymore right now, but I'm sure I'll think of more.

ACLS was a week. You were 'special' because it was reserved for MDs with a few select nurses. You had to prepare before the course - A&P/EKG interpretation etc..You were tested on every item. Written and demonstrating. There was a failure rate. When you passed, the residents wanted you at all their codes. Those were the days.................

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

The Stryker frame I remember must have been even older than the one in the picture. It was red-painted metal and didn't have the big wheel thing for turning. The best I can remember, it had handles.

Specializes in General.
Before plastic tubing , they used red rubber tubing , for everything! .

I remember that so well!!

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