Nursing: Then and Now

- Blood pressure devices (sphygmamonometers) had real mercury in them- Aides got on-the-job training- Nursing students eventually worked all three shifts- The class before mine was the last class required to wear girdles!!!- We were required to live in the dorm, and we had curfews- Chest tubes were connected to 2 or 3 glass bottles, and we had to learn how to set them up.- Chest tubes got 'milked/stripped', either by hand or with strippers- 8 bed wards in the hospital where I was - privacy simply wasn't an issue! We had moveable dividers, when needed- Babies under 2 lbs rarely survived - we just didn't have the equipment for them- 8 hour shifts 12s were considered an absolute last-gasp measure in an extreme situationMore later!

-the boss on the floor was called the Head Nurse-the first institution I worked at was NOT air-conditioned-the enormous pride I felt when I pinned my school pin on that white uniform every day

In peds we used cloth diapers and glass bottles that we sterilized on midnites!

I'm a brand new nurse but how I long to have been able to experience some of the things from nursing in days gone by!

Quote from CrazierThanYouI'm a brand new nurse but how I long to have been able to experience some of the things from nursing in days gone by!

Diabetic's sugar was determined by a urine test. Remember dropping pills into a test tube of urine and then comparing the colour of the urine to a chart to see what the sugar was. + 1, + 2 and so forth.

WOW, you all have seen a lot! I hear stories of how everyone used to smoke at the nurses' station. It's so crazy to me when I think about it.

I have a picture taken at our local hospital in the 70's. The nurses sitting around in their white, smoking cigarettes. I love that picture!

Quote from LIZZYICUWOW, you all have seen a lot! I hear stories of how everyone used to smoke at the nurses' station. It's so crazy to me when I think about it.

When you accidentally dropped one of these, they certainly didn't bounce. What a mess.....and everyone heard it shatter.

Quote from CrazierThanYouI have a picture taken at our local hospital in the 70's. The nurses sitting around in their white, smoking cigarettes. I love that picture!

Thermometers had real mercury in themwound dressings - egg white and oxygen or hydrochloric peroxide are what I remember the mostback rounds every 4 hours and full skin assessment done at this time and rubbing of red areasThis was in the UK