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:

Specializes in cardiac med-surg.

i started in 1987

we [tried] to measure cvp

something like putting a ruler beside the pt's neck

i can't remember

oh the good ole days

how many times a day would we remake a bed[no fitted sheets]

side of bed facing the door had to have bedspread longer than the sheet

so no sheet was showing [whatever]

thank god for progress and change

thanks for the walk down memory lane

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

how many times a day would we remake a bed[no fitted sheets]

side of bed facing the door had to have bedspread longer than the sheet

so no sheet was showing [whatever]

Don't forget the toe pleat! And the open end of the pillowcase faces away from the door. :D

Specializes in see bio.

surgical preps by nurses prior to surgery

providing care to same peds patiens each year while parents went on vacation

inpatient stays for routine diagnostic testing (usally 3-5 day stay)

restraints on the units for patients with behavioral problems

high hot and soapy enema's

isolation up the whazoo(enteric.contact,respiratory,reverse)

fingerstick accidents not a problem

mixing your own IV additives

dress codes in some form or fashion

during some dressing changes tapping patients buttocks to the side rail for that previously mentioned heat lamp treatment

informaition on a need to know basis was everyone knew everything

aluminum paste for dressing changes

bolus tube feedings

DRG's

team approach nursing

police or ambulance providing transportation to work in bad weather conditions

Specializes in jack of all trades.

Lot of these things were still very prevalent during the 80's and early 90's actually. I graduated in '82 and remember:

Taping the pt to the siderail with the heat lamp and maalox for decubitus tx.

You didnt need gloves to start IV's or draw blood as it impeded finding that just perfect vein on the little old lady that had none.

And oh yes!! The HOPPERS (I even accidentally flushed a pt upper dentures down one of those huge things during a vomiting episode as emesis basins were the only thing you could grab at the bedside, he gave me his fresh peaches the next day his family brought in. wow what an explanation that was on the incident report)

Primary care nursing where if you were lucky there may be 1 CNA or Tech on the entire floor for 20 pts. Nurses still did the I&O's, all the vitals, all the baths, etc. This was particularly true of ICU's

Portable suction was brought in at the beside as if lucky you maybe had 2 on the unit.

Taping the bags to read the input for IV fluids.

Mixed our own, pharmacy wouldnt think of it!! TPN was generally only thing they premixed for us.

Pharmacy went home at 5pm and the Nursing supervisor was responsible for after hour meds if needed from pharmacy.

No standardized careplans allowed. You wrote one yourself for every kardex on every pt on admission. Heck we did this in the ER too before any transfer to the floor.

Mixed our own chemo at times also.

Oh yes the Stryker Frames!!!! Almost forgot that one till Santhony 44 mentioned.

Bolus tube feedings.

Removing sticker from every item you used to put on pt kardex for charges.

New orders (the little yellow copy) had to be handcarried to the pharmacy or send someone to Supply to pick up what you needed.

Still had to wear whites in the ICU/CVICU and the most uncomfortable shoes (mine were always Nursemates only.)

No more than 1 pair of earrings in your ears.

Hair must be put up above your shoulders as absolutely couldnt be dangling anywhere near your patient. If long it better be pinned up!

Lots has changed over the years. Curious to see what the next 10-20 will bring! Yes I'm an old nurse I guess at 50 LOL. But I love the new way of things. Oh heck remember the "Leather restraints" but only the Psych unit were permitted to carry the key and apply them for you? EEEK.

Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

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

how about the "top nurse" actually being a nurse??...

using coke or meat tenderizer to unclog a feeding tube,..

am labs included a "smac"

Specializes in MedSurg/OrthoNeuro/Rehab/Consultant.

Anybody remember using circle beds? They actually were pretty cool...easy to do good skin care, too!

Specializes in M/S/Tele, Home Health, Gen ICU.

Yep, I remember most of those, used to love demonstrating the Styker frames to a new studenet, then leave them in it. We used to mix all our own antibilotics and chemo, we wore a plastic apron and gloves for chemo prep!!! IV fluids were ordered over 24 hrs, eg, 3l over 24 hrs = 1l every 8 hrs, we used drops per min and a tape on the side of the bag. If one bag went too fast you gave the next one slower. How about Soium Bicarb in 1 l bags as the first thing you hung in a code. Oh and one defib per 6 floors, the junior doc on the code team was responsible for brining it from the male cadiac floor, (via the elevator or stairs). Segregated floors, stainless steel bedpans, urinals, sputum cups, vomit bowls, cleaning them (there are some things I don't miss) and bed pan warmers!!! Going round with bedtime drinks and early morning drinks on nights. Serving meals and giving out the diabetic portions yourself, we had to know all the exchnges ets, diabetics got a lot of fish. Caps, dresses, belts and buckles, american tan panty hose, capes and ugly shoes!!:lol2:

Mercury B/P machines (no I don't remember the real name and can't spell it anyway) attached to the wall.

Hey, we still have these in our patient rooms! (btw, they're sphygmomanometers).

Incentive spirometers consisted of a mouth piece from an IPPB treatment rubberbanded to a glove. The patient had to blow up the glove every two hours post op.

I actually like this idea. I.S. is such a complex idea for so many patients, they just don't understand they're supposed to INHALE, not blow out!

Trach care took forever as you had to take out the metal cannula, soak in peroxide, clean the middle with pipe cleaners, change the strap with new twill tape hoping you didn't pull it out.

Umm, I did this yesterday, only the inner cannula was plastic and on it was imprinted "not to be cleaned or reused"; but guess what? To save $$ we DO!

I don't remember now what the urine glocose test was called?

Clinitest and Acetest.

Sorry for so many individual responses, lots of distractions this evening!

Specializes in MedSurg/OrthoNeuro/Rehab/Consultant.
Clinitest and Acetest.

We used to press the tabs against urine soaked pads, that just never seemed very accurate to me!!!!

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