Carries scissors in her pocket.

old school nurse is one old nurse who believes she knows everything and threatens the newbies with getting them fired if they don’t do her work. Oh wait, that’s called an old school “bully” who should have retired years ago.

I would add no makeup and NO artificial nails to the “old school nurses” list.

I am one of those too: the 3 day, 5/6 part State Board, waited weeks for results (and it took longer than usual even because of a security breach in another state), caps (still have mine!), white uniforms and those white support stockings – the profession doesn’t even look the same. What I wouldn’t have given to wear scrubs! That said, I don’t think it’s worse – just different. One thing I will say about us “old timers” – we will be the first to volunteer to fill in for a staffing crisis. But I think the work ethic is learned: my youngest daughter is an RN now and she is beloved on her unit because she works hard and takes initiative – something I like to think she learned from her “old timer” mom. And to Retta – YES! I remember the triple H enema! Thanks for the laugh!

Just Retired at age 77. Nurses Aide 1966-67( when the hospital trained you.) LPN 1969-79, Registered Nurse 1979, BSN 1995. 24 years in the ARMY Reserves. Served during Desert Storm. All the above while a wife and mother of 3.I have loved every minute from wiping butts to wiping tears. “The Highest Calling”!!

Knows how to give bed bath, chest pt, and rolled wash clothes in hands of stroke patients

.He/She may ask do you need anything else before i leave? Can you reach your call button.

Addressing patient by Mr., Mrs, or Ms., not by their first name.

Always had a tri-color pen in my pocket, blue for day shift, green for evenings, red for nights.

I graduated in 1974 with my BSN and knew very little. I was the charge nurse on the night shift of a 30 bed medical unit with 1 LPN and 1 wonderful Aide. The hospital was changing to “team” nursing. I took over my LPN’s position and she was not pleased. At the time I thought so much more than her. Oh boy how wrong I was! I wish she were alive today to hug and say I’m sorry. She and my head nurse taught me so much. After that I tried to do the same with every new nurse I worked with.
I remember starting IVS with a needle and syringe to give IV antibiotics. You had to do that each time they had an iV antibiotic. So every 8 hours meant 3 sticks a day. Then you had to sit and give the antibiotic over 20 minutes. Nurses were not allowed to start angiocaths and we didn’t have butterfly needles.
You had to wear your nursing cap at all times, even in ICU. You had to wear lace up white nursing shoes, white uniform dresses, and white nylons.
I love being a nurse. I will never say loved being a nurse because although, I do not work any more, I will always be a nurse in my heart!

I carry bandage scissors and hemo stats in my pocket every day. I like to say I was a critical care nurse “pre-dopamine” which astounds everyone I say that to. Yes that was possible! Critical care was pretty basic in the early 70s but we managed to save lives. I loved wearing my cap until the day a nursing supervisor showed up during an arrest on a patient who was trussed up with multiple lines from lower extremity trauma. I had ripped my cap off to get to the patient. The first thing out of her mouth was “where is your cap?” Really!? As soon as we were allowed to go without our caps I never wore it again. Did I miss it? Yes I did. I still have it in its clear plastic carryall.

The old school nurse knows what SOAP charting is.

ADD washes hands BEFORE AND AFTER going to the bathroom.

This had to have been written by an “Old School Nurse”. I could relate to everything it said. I am old school.
Thank goodness for medical advances. I’ve always said that 30 years ago, patients got better IN SPITE OF our care!!

I am grateful that I am an “old school” nurse. I loved Nursing and will always call myself a nurse. I loved my white uniform, my pen I wore and especially my cap! It meant sooo much to me.

Knows how to make and use a draw sheet for turning a patient.

Knows a second way/alternate supply to get just about anything done!

Thank you all for your great comments. I enjoyed all of them, especially in regard to nursing as a calling. I do believe that nursing is “in our blood”. My mother, now retired, graduated ADN in 1970. Having always been my role model, she was so proud of me when I followed her into nursing. She placed my nursing pin on me in 1990. I am doubly proud of my daughter, who will graduate soon with her BSN and follow in this great calling. As I told her recently, the practice of Nursing has given me personally and spiritually more than I can possibly ever give back.

The first thing that comes to mind is respect for others’ positions and definitely their experience!

Clear nail polish and short nails!

A younger male nurse made a comment to other technicians that ” I am just an old school nurse” what does that mean in a negative way. I have been a nurse for 29 years. Doing dialysis for the last 18 years. (I am a female)

I did when I started at S& W but it kept getting hung up on the ortho unit traction lines and one day fell off into the bedpan with the liquid poo in it- so That was that. 🙂

KINDNESS… BEAUTIFUL KINDNESS AND EMPATHY IN ALL THE CARE YOU GIVE!!!!

How about smoking and nonsmoking patient rooms? Ash trays at the nurses desk. Looking back, I can’t believe that anyone ever thought that that was okay.

As an old school nurse myself, everyone around me praises my knowledge base and years of experience. They often state ” i know everything”.No nurse no matter how many years of experience is or should be a know it all. I often say to my colleagues yes I do know alot, but any old school nurse is never afraid TO ASK. WE DONT KNOW EVERYTHING!!!

I got my “calling” when I was allowed to go to work with my mom. She started as a nurses aide, then became an LPN. She “retired” when my dad retired from the military. I started my work, also, as a nurses aide, then LPN, and after my divorce, and moving back home, obtained my RN degree from Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. I graduated from my LPN program exactly 10 years after my mother. I obtained my RN 13 years after my LPN. So, in total, I have been a nurse for 30+ years. So, yes, I am old school.

You actually know how to do Try CPR…You identify to everyone in the patients room and give personal contact information for an emergency… Cry when anyone in the entire world dies…Thats me…Please don’t die Jonathan from Property Brothers and get married for goodness sake…..I could say so many more but I know to play nice in the sandbox..Hugs stay safe!! we need you.

An old school nurse will always follow up a digital B/P and pulse reading with a manual pulse check. The digital machine didn’t pick up on life threatening arrhythmias.

I am guilty of making hospital corners at home. But those of us who have been around 40+ years have had to evolve or move on. It’s very technology-oriented now and patients rarely spend more than a day or two in the hospital. Some days I think tech really has advanced nursing practice. Other days I long for the days when a patient was hospitalized on your floor for months and months until they were fully rehabed and walked themselves out the door. There were no rehab floors or SNFs or discharging them home with wound vacs and a PICC line.

I felt that, in the old days, we really developed a core bond that would last a lifetime and had miracle outcomes. Now, sometimes when I am wheeling a patient out of the hospital, I wonder if I will see them back in a few days, or worse, if they will die at home alone. Most days, hospitals no longer give us the opportunity to be old-fashioned nurses. We have to contribute to the bittom line or be replaced.

Gets up to let the Doctor sit.

How about PEEP when the doc would get down on the floor and adjust the tubing in the water to create it. Or mixing your TPN and custom bags of iv dextrose!

I had a 4 hr old on the pedi floor And I went into his Room to set up his Lunch tray. It was all vegetables so I asked if he was a vegetarian. He replied proudly, no I am a Presbyterian !!

I have been a critical care nurse for 39-40 years. The changes I have seen ovear the years! I recall CABG patients remaining in bed for 6 days and not allowed to move a muscle. Now they are up the same day postop. I recall having to send glass syringes to distribution for sterilization, glass chest tube bottles, metal bedpans and taking them to the hopper, having to set up my own pressure monitoring tubing, piece by piece, no packaged sets like now, for the “Yellow Snake”- Swan Gantz, PA catheter. The list goes on and on!!! The best change was not having to wear those white, germ infested caps anymore!! All in all I would not change a thing! I love being a NURSE! How about you?

Yes, I am an ‘Old School Nurse’ and proud of it. Received my BSN in 1977, Joined the Army in 1983, earned a MSA in 1989, MSN in 1996 and DNP in 2015. Deployed to Iraq in 2005 – 2006, Retired at the rank of COL, Army Nurse Corps in 2010, and continue to serve as I now work in a VA. Wouldn’t change it for the world.

It is a bit fallacious to just use ‘her’ in all of this. Small point but it all adds up. I like it, nice laugh but really? Some of us RN’s are not female.

working in an office, I still have my manual BP cuff, stethoscope, assessment kit in my cabinet handy

I’m an “old school nurse” and graduated from Allentown Hospital School of Nursing in 1976. I’m proud to have a diploma degree and my education was second to none, being on the floor in the 2nd week of school. We had 24 bed open wards in some of the areas and only one wing of the hospital had air conditioning. Yes, we did what we were told by the docs but we were not expected to do half their work which it seems is expected now. I never got paid enough to do that function. When I worked Peds, there was a nap time after lunch and visitors left for an hour. When I worked mother-baby, only dads and siblings with grandparents were able to visit. We took a cart around and did PM care on 3-11, remember that? Juice, crackers and a back rub–kept the lotion in my pocket so it wouldn’t be cold. Babies stayed in the nursery until feeding time, moms actually got some rest before they had to go home. Anyone intubated was in ICU, med-surg floors were busy enough. I’ve done ambulatory care, home care, hospice, MedDRA coding, clinical research, pediatrics, geriatrics and of course, the obligatory med-surg all on my Diploma Degree. So there!

2nd comment but did not want to reply as it might be hidden.

I am an “old nurse” but I have never stopped learning. When we stop learning we have really stopped advancing in this field and probably should hang it up. I don’t necessarily mean going back to school either, CEU’s, advances in medicine, online articles, training courses etc.

I took TNCC for the 1st time after 28 years, just this year, with most of my career in the ED.

I constantly look things up, to read up on lab interpretations, imaging or new procedures or medications I don’t know about, just so that I can get a better picture of what I am looking at when I look at my patient. But I don’t hoard that knowledge, I share it with the multiple young nurses I work with who have less than 3 years out of school. Why? Because no one did that when I was new. If I would have asked questions about these things, I would have been snarled at by Ms. Patty or Jeanine (Nurse Ratchet and her sister) my preceptor and the Nurse manager of the 1st hospital where I worked. There were many days when I left there in tears. I felt stupid, overwhelmed and disheartened by not knowing everything there was to know about the world of nursing in that 1st year. The only plus, the Nurse manager actually assigned me nightly homework to do on medications and critical care after work, to improve my skills and to learn about drips and triaging patients/critical situations. Was it right? Not necessarily, did I learn what I needed? You betcha! To this day I still do that sort of work when I have time, but I share the information instead of snarling at other young nurses and hope they benefit from it too.

Another important thing we need to share with “younger nurses” is the importance of documentation. Many hospitals are pushing less is best. I do Legal chart review as a side job and I will say, there are many places, based on the charting systems, unless the RN makes an effort to insert a comment or narrative, the system used will not save them on the face value. In fact, it will be their downfall in the end. The systems in place at most facilities do not demonstrate the standard of care required by CMS, any nursing journal, or most likely even your hospital policy. If you are just checking the boxes and going with that, not attaching any comments, if something happens and that chart gets pulled for a full scouring, there won’t be anything anyone will be able to do to help in that situation. Don’t let then press you for time, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT!!!!

I graduated in 1992 but was an LPN for 1.5 years before that and was “called” at about age 13 to be a nurse. I was in the Military for 8 years too and get annoyed when younger nurses look at me like they know it all. I have probably forgotten more than some of them know!!

The best nurses I ever worked with were those who took my hand and said ” come here, I want to show you how to do something”. I learned from so many great nurses and I hold them in high esteem because they took the time to teach and demonstrate good technique. Hats off to nurses to all nurses who like to help each other!

I have to say this is pretty accurate!! I am 1(the youngest) of a multi generational fam of nurses along with other healthcare professionals going back to WWII. I can remember my Grandma’s Nursing cap a little, but the one I REMEMBER the most is my MOM’S in that same clear plastic protective hat box!! Not only does she still have it, she at the age of 71 is still working full time as an RN at the hospital! And yes she may be an old school NURSE, but I can’t think of a better hero and Role model for ever new generation of nurses!!

I was trained to be a nurse when we really had nothing to justify why something was done and we gave credit to the physician for everything.
add to the old school list getting up and giving up your chair in the nurses station a physician when he entered the desk area! (females could not be doctors, nursing was our area back then)
Yes, I am old school and I proudly claim it. I was called to nursing, I believe it is a passion and Nursing was the only thing I ever wanted to do. 3 year diploma nurse here (translated all nursing done in the hospital and you lived in an attached residence. Back in the day, the hospital you trained at, your hospital, hired you. No so anymore and I am glad!). Times have changed and nursing has had to change as well. I went back to school thru my MSN and now I teach nursing students. I am proud to be able to compare and contrast nursing education from mine to current. It helps them realize nursing is a fluid profession and we cannot stay in the past.
As far as the list of things, I match them all. My best memory… 3 first year students on a ward (old term) and we showed the BSN (only one, as students staffed everywhere at no pay) how to care for patients with Chest tubes and insertion of a foley cath! Old school is NOT bad. I agree with the entry stating we are causing this on ourselves. we refer to OLD school but folks hear OLD. Old folks from this era now are so different from years past. Age discrimination exists as folks have stereotyped the elderly. Gray hair in a doctor’s office gets me talked to like a child, yelled at, and assumed not to have a job, and have all the time in the world. I actually have had said to me “you’re to old to be working”. I am older then my grandparents were when they passed and my life is nothing like theirs. Grandma is not always there!! Age is a number and each person knows when best to retire.

I am a male and at the end of my career ( plan to retire in 6 years) and have 2 sons that are interested in and have started their nursing education. I would recommend being a nurse (and do) to anyone thinking about a career. I would always tell them that nurses are more born than made. There has to be a core of your person that actually wants to take care of a stranger. You have to do very unpleasant things and want to do it because you will help the patient. I am still active at the bedside and look forward to being apart of our recruitment and retention committee. I do have HUGE concerns about the future of nursing. Everyone knows the projected numbers and I do not see more people turning to nursing without salaries increasing. 30 years ago I became a nurse in part because salaries increased. I was living in upstate NY and all the hospitals began Baylor programs and other staffing plans that enable nurses to make much more money. I believe that this will naturally happen. I have ALWAYS believed that if nurses were unionized that we could rule the world. We have power that most people do not realize. Here is hoping that some where down the line we are able to implement the California laws throughout the country.

If we placed all the comments about “Old school”,old, outdated, all the comments, in a different context we would be called prejudiced or some other general defining word. There are many problems in nursing, many of which has to do with the nurses (mostly women) being competitive instead of being a team member. A team is usually comprised of people wanting the same outcome, not individuals each working for their own goal or outcome. Age has little to do with anything, experience has everything to do with all of it. You can read books and take tests till the moon turns blue, but until you have seen it and done it you can’t ‘know’. If we could somehow stop looking at someone else’s hairdos, shoes, clothes, age and simply keep the bar raised high, wouldn’t it be good. We are not in a competition or a race; if anything we are in a race for life: our own lives and the lives of those counting on us. We should try to make it the best we can. BTW every young nurse will get old with time, every young nurse will gain experience and the rest of the nurses should be helping them learn and not faulting them for what they can’t know.(because they have not done ‘it’ yet) Where’s the love and the acceptance and the support and teamwork. Where is the nurse to nurse respect. Think we may have shot the profession in the foot? I love being a nurse and I want to love it even more even when I am old.

Hazel, I love you !!! I went into nursing in 1957 and wore the “Old Cadet Uniform”. I did all the things you talked about and graduated in 1957. I was the FIRST student to be allowed to marry when I was 4 months from graduation and my husband was in the Navy…BUT he was not allowed to live in the dorm with me when he was home on leave. That was all ironic as my mother was asked to leave the same school when she was a senior because they found out she was married. She was working pediatrics and caught Scarlet Fever and they found out about her marriage. I graduated in 1960.
I worked nights in the ER and one of my extra duties was washing and hanging the rubber gloves up to dry and then putting them in the Powder machine.
I learned to use the Iron Lung by being put in one for more minutes than I liked.
Knowing Waganstein suctions saved the day when I worked a disaster in the late 80’s.
I learned how to function as THE NURSE when the Flu epidemic in 1957 took down most of our nurses and docs and I was a lowly freshman but only one RN to guide me on an 18 bed solarium. Now there’s a word nurses don’t hear today. So many sick patients we used the “solarium” and had 18 beds with green Oxygen tanks chained to the beds. Course this was years behind “wall oxygen”.
Myfamily had lots of nurses. Great Aunt Jennie graduated from Bellvue, NYC in 1900; my Aunt Helen worked as scrub nurse in the OR and Mother was a nurse…what else could women do and be respected….most of the time… what with wars going on.
I’m 80 this year and still the one asked for my opinion by other nurses or docs. I work Disaster Response and love it.

What is wrong with nursing being a calling?

Yes, I’m an old school nurse with an MSN and proud of it. I also am contracted by State Boards of Nursing to provide education to those nurses whose license were suspended when they decided to “break the rules when it is in the best interest of the patient.”
I have considered unsubscribing from this ans I now will do it. You are advising that it is okay to break laws and place patients in danger. New nurses, please do not take this advise.

Who remember HHH enemas? What about icing your cardiac output in ICU? Putting blue dye in tube feedings? Oxygen therapy for peri excoriation? My list is long too! I am proud to have been called and served as a nurse through the last 5 decades. Caps off to all the “old school nurses” out there. In my experience very few of us ate our young. Most of us were glad to share our knowledge and experience.

I’m not really an old school nurse, however I have been in the nursing field since 1980 as a CNA, before becoming a Nurse. My mentor is an old school nurse and has taught me some of her old school ways.
I miss the time that is spent with patients/residents. “new” nurses of the last decade seem to come to work, pop a pill, move on to the next. They “don’t have time” to do what we old school nurses do. Offer the extra TLC. Answer the call light ourselves. Don’t expect the CNA’s to do it all. A nurse can bathe and toilet a resident too. Most of the newer nurses I have worked with will hunt down an aide to report a need. The time she spent looking for her, usually helping someone else, the nurse could have done it herself.

I got my BSN in 1973 from a small catholic college. Since I had received an Army Nurse Corps scholarship for my last 2 years, I began my nursing career in the US Army AFTER waiting 6 weeks for board results. I was forced to wear the Army Nurse cap which I ditched as soon as I was allowed. We had to wear 3 holed white shoes, white stockings, and no jewelry. If you were married and got pregnant, you were asked to leave the service. This was the age of glass and metal. How many times did I hear a crash and run to find blood spurting out the top of the broken IV bottle? ( I can remember the talk about plastic IV bottles in the future which we all thought was crazy). We started IV’s, did respiratory treatments, and cleaned the beds. I knew how to count and calculate drips and stripped all the IV’s I hung. We used glass thermometers and glass syringes. In my 44 years as a nurse….I just retired…I LOVED working with new nurses. It was always my opinion that a unit needed the young, energetic, current knowledge people along with the older more experienced people. This balance offered the best outcome for patients.

I’m an old school diploma nurse and proud of it. I still believe we are the most clinically sound nurses around. We were on the floor from the first year of nursing school. Our instructors made sure we knew our stuff before we even touched a patient. I ‘ve read articles and heard administrators write that having BSNs result in better outcomes. Sorry, I don’t agree. I had a conversation with one of those four-year wonders. She was going in for her own gallbladder surgery. We were discussing what life would be like after her lap chole. She didn’t have any idea that the gallbladder had anything to do with the GI system. A friend of mine who had abdominal surgery was interviewed by a matriculating MSN. That nurse “followed” her for 6 hours. One of the last questions “Mary Matriculator” asked her was, “Have you ever had abdominal surgery?” Probably couldn’t get her eyes off her smart phone long enough to look at the chart!

Graduated as a diploma RN in 2014, so I’m still pretty new. While not everything on this list is familiar to me, but I was lucky enough to be taught by amazing “old school” nurses that taught lots of things you can’t learn in a classroom. Our hair was always up, clean white uniforms…We were on the unit our 2nd week, doing hands on patient care – giving bed baths, putting patients on bedpans, getting them ice water… I’m thankful that I went through a diploma program.

How about the 2 glass bottle suction set up for a chest tube?

Graduated LPN school 1983. 3 day test for my license. Waited for weeks for my “pass.” Worked aa OB scrub tech, Dr’s office, LTAC, nursing home, home care as an LPN. Remember cleaning instuments and prepping them for autoclave, SS enemas, counting drip rates, paper charting, calling MDs “doctor,” NOT by their first names, hand cranking beds. I also remember graduating oldest in my BSN class in 2006, mother to 5 kids, computer licensing test with auto “shut off,” wearing scrubs, computer charting, and a constant stream of ‘Best Practice’ changes in nursing care. To be honest, I am an “old school” nurse first, but have embraced the new ways of practice…sometimes grudgingly…but recognizing that the old ways are NOT always best. I see new nurses who are afraid to get their hands dirty, and old ones who “eat their young.” However, I also see many of both who are dedicated to excellence, and treat their patient’s like family! I will always address MDs as “doctor,” and chart in mainly narrative style (I have a hard time with charting by exception), but I will always give my best to every patient…every shift, for as long as I have the privilege to practice! Nurses need to support each other…our job is HARD! We need to respect each other and HELP one another get through those days, where everything is heaped on us in a tangled mess! We need to be kind to one another, as some patients see us as maids, waiters and waitresses, and punching bags, and a Golden Ticket to riches. We need to be willing to put aside outdated practices (for the ‘old school’), but embrace ones that have stood the test of time (for the ‘newbies’). Most of all, we need to remember that we are here for the patient, and that we should be following the Golden Rule when dealing with everyone!

I think I’ve actually met SOME of you. Do you remember me? I’m the student you dismissed during clinicals before you even said Hello, if you even bothered to say Hello. You were jaded and cold and threatened. You had made up your mind before you had taken the time to get to know me. You were so busy complaining about the new nurses and practicing your Old School nursing, (some of which is just plain dangerous) that you couldn’t find time to even smile at me or my classmates. We couldn’t possibly have been worthy. You are the Nurses that “Eat their young.” Thankfully not all of you, but I hear that distinction and disturbing tone loud and clear in some of the comments.

And btw, I have no tats, my uniforms were always clean and free of wrinkles, shoes professional nursing type. Hair always neat and above my collar. Didnt matter, those are just excuses, if you treated new nurses half as humanely as you say you treat your patients nursing would be a better place.

I graduated in 1991 where tradition was still very strong in the profession of nursing. Of the old school list, I have a few comments LOL:

1. Still wears her hair ABOVE the collar at work. (Never been an issue; my military background means that I haven’t had hair longer than the nape of my neck since I was 10, except for a rebellious 6 month period when I turned 40)

2. Knows how to use a bath blanket and still prefers soap and water to body cleanser wipes. (HATE cleanser!!! I would rather just use a good face cloth and quality soap)

3. Owns a case of white leather shoe polish for a VERY distinctive pair of lace-up nursing shoes. (Hard to find good duty shoes; but my shoes have remained LEATHER and are mostly WHITE)

4. Keeps a pack of mints in her pocket for post-op patients who have sore throats from the intubation. (This practice is not really acceptable any longer, but I do make sure that we have some of the anesthetic type of lozenges on the unit)

5. Wears ONLY two pieces of jewelry to work–a wristwatch and (if married) a plain wedding band. (Isn’t a stethoscope considered jewelry??? LOL!)

6. Keeps her school cap in a clear plastic tote on the shelf of her closet and her Nightingale Lamp in a glass display case. (Might be a man, but I DO have a cap and yes, it is kept in a plastic tote)

7. Makes hospital corners on her home bed sheets. (For me, more of a military influence rather than nursing school…)

8. Always carries an extra pen–with BLUE ink to distinguish an original form from a copy–just in case the doctor “forgets” to return the one he or she borrowed. (Kinda; I usually carry a couple of multi-coloured pens, a dual-tipped “sharpee” marker for marking invasive lines)

9. Looks the other way if something which breaks the rules is in the best interest of the patient. (With extreme caution — I am too cute for prison and I am not losing my license because I incorrectly assessed something to be in the best interest of the patient – in today’s world of law suit, I practice much differently today than I did in the 90’s).

10. Believes that nursing is a calling. (Always have – in fact, to this day, I still would continue to practice if conditions were the same as they were when I graduated. There was actually competition for positions, pay was considerably less, missed meal/coffee breaks were just “part of the job” etc.)

And my own list!

11. Believe that a sizeable group of today’s nurses (not all, but some) went into nursing because pay and benefits are considerable better given the length of required training, and the huge glut of available jobs and anticipated mass retirement of currently serving nurses.

12. Can still time drip rates with both the micro and macro drip IV lines, and know how to use a buretrol.

13. Recalls when syringes had both CC and “MINIM” markings on them.

14. Knows that the wide bulb is for the rectal thermometer and the thin bulb for oral

15. Still refers to the Assistant Unit Manager as an “asshead” (Assistant Head Nurse).

16. Still argues that the 2 year Diploma RN’s is superior training over a 4 year Degree RN — who, by the way, are nurses who want to be managers.

17. Knows how to gatch, Fowlers, Trendelenburg/Reverse Trendelenburg a bed with manual “cranks”

18. Has inadvertently left the hospital with narcotics keys in his/her pocket.

I could likely go on forever LOL

I graduated from my Diploma program in 1974. As a man, I was told that they always need nurses in Urology and Psychiatry. Fortunately I and Nursing have come along way.

I so enjoyed everyone s comments, it brought back so many memories!
Graduated from LPN school in 1970, got RN with AAS degree in 1983, and BS in 1997.
Worked in hospitals, nursing homes, and in Doctor offices, then home care.
Currently working with the severely mentally ill in a community and Group home setting.
Everything mentioned was so true.
Nursing is a vocation, a true calling of the heart.
I have always said PLEASE to not become a nurse if you don t love people deeply.
Because you won t like them when they re sick!!
I will ALWAYS proudly be an old school nurse.
Thank you for the memories!!!

The day I graduated from my diploma nursing program in 1997, I put that nursing cap behind the rear tire of my car and never looked back. Getting my diploma was one of the hardest things I had accomplished in my life. I graduated at the age of 40. My husband said it was my “mid-life career crisis”. I’ll never forget that during orientation, one of the instructors said, if you have a child and a part time job, you will NOT make it through this program…HELLO! I had three kids under the age of 6 and a full time job! Yes, the job did get scaled back, but I made it through. One of the differences between us Old School nurses and the nurses today is that no one told them that they could not do something. So they just do it, just like me! I do have to take time and give credit to the incredible growth that I have had since becoming a nurse. I had an amazing preceptor. I could not believe how patient she was, just the picture of a perfect nurse. So I asked her “how is it that you are so kind and patient?” She blew me away when she said “I am a selfish woman. When you see grace, it is because of Jesus!” Looking back now, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. After ten years of being in the ICU, ten years of working in Dialysis (staff nurse, teaching, managing and then home therapy) and now in home health/hospice. If you have the desire, you can make it your own.

I would say if a nurse does not feel that nursing is a calling, then there are huge disappointments ahead -for the nurse and the patients that she pseudo-serves. Lose the pride, humble yourself and give all in the service of others…that is nursing. Everyone else should become Airline stewards or makeup clerks at the local department stores. Ready the bio of Florence Nightingale to understand the meaning behind what you have committed to becoming and do not dishonor that creed.

I graduated in 2001 and honestly I’m kind of bummed we didn’t get the little white cap!! LOL If even just for it’s historical significance in honoring those who blazed the trail!!

Talent given by and called to from God Himself. I never knew a nurse. I never had a family member admitted to a hospital. I never knew anything about it. My HS Guidance Counselor said you are good in math and science maybe you should look into something in the healthcare field, and said “my wife is a nurse and she went to X school”. So I applied to X school and went into Nursing. It was a journey and a huge challenge for me. But since the very proud day I graduated in 1983 I have loved my profession! I am a people person. I am a nurturer to the core. I am empathetic. And I know there are differences at the bedside because I have had many patients say to me “Thank you so much for listening to me and spending the time that you have with me, I know how busy you are!” It’s just those few extra moments that make a difference a lot of time. *One of those times the patient had a BAD case of bedbugs along with his CHF and COPD exacerbation, and the whole decontamination process in place, with spacesuits and sticky flooring. He cried and said the other staff just opened the door and asked if he needed anything but didnt pass the threshold. I garbed up and did the full assessment and asked about his whole family, to find out that they all had big beautiful homes and that he was the only “disgrace” to the family but he refused any of their offers to help. An empathetic ear goes a long way.

Yes, I’m a old school nurse too. Graduate from catholic hospital school of nursing in 1981. Was last class in my area to take the 5 part 3day long state board test. Waited weeks for a “regular mail” letter to say you past! Hoping not to get a “certified letter” that was to notify you that you failed. It was stressful. Now the new nurses just get on a computer and maybe 45 minutes later if they answer enough questions right it shuts off and that’s it. During nursing school you went in the night before and researched your pt and did drug cards on every drug and studied and memorize those drugs. If you did not know your stuff or did not dress correctly you go sent home. Now When I get student nurses who come for a clinical day where I work, if you ask them what a “basic” med is, they don’t know!!! They pull out their phone to look it up! ( usually after you’ve suggested they look it up)! These are seniors! They show up to clinical where leggings and riding boots and don’t understand why you tell them it’s not appropriate. They always say they want to be an ER or ICU nurse, because it’s “exciting “. I encourage them to be medsurg for at least their first year so they can be well round and get best after school education so that their practice is not limited. I’ve read many of the “old school “ nurse stories and I relate to all, excluding mixing my own IVPB and IV fluids etc… We as old schools have a lot of stories. How about management who say that old nurses don’t like change! I say, I don’t mind change if it works, but the reason old nurses buck changes are probably because we’ve seen that change before and it didn’t work! I would like old nurses to be more respected for their opinions and history and knowledge instead just saying “ oh you’re just old school….”. I say to all old school nurses…..WELL DONE & BRAVO !!!! And new nurses…. seek out the old school nurse and learn all she has to share!!!

So many of these comments brought forth giggles along with a lot of memories. LPN Graduate of 1975, then ADN 1985. Very proud to be part of a profession that has endured so many healthcare changes. Worked as an operating room nurse before the times of Laparoscopic Surgery where all surgeries where “Open” surgeries unless they were “Locals”. The technologies that has progressed this profession is staggering at times, but as nurses we all have mastered somewhere along the line the skill of adaptability – this too is unique for our profession. My proudest moment in my career was sitting in an auditorium watching my daughter graduate from an ADN nursing program. She grew up spending many a night on the sofa of an “on-call” room while her mother was called into work for some emergency surgical event. For there were very little options for a single mom during her on-call rotation in the OR. Thank goodness for that room with TV and plenty of crackers and peanut butter (a MUST staple in the OR lounge). As from all the above comments we are sharing, it is evident that this profession is a family affair, an affair with values and a strong sense of caring for one another, be it our family, our patients, and equally important one another. I have truly enjoyed this ride.

Graduated from 1968 from a 3 year (33 months) diploma school program… worked 2 years peds then ER for almost 30 years… then to Nurse informatics… now am teaching at a local Jr college…. CNA’s
Love it as it is basic nursing practice… my CNAs know how to make hospital corners… wear their hair up and are taught the basics of observation. They know I’m old fashioned.. and laugh when I never wear gloves when teaching procedures.. ( but make them wear gloves) I tell them stories of sterilization of needles and running on cotton to find burrs, wiping down all furniture and removing flowers at bedtime… using ekg machine running on the floor for our ‘monitors’.. SAwing bicarb vials so you could snap them open during codes… with glass syringes… rotating tourniquets.. cleaning my own bird and Bennett machines… using Skultedus binders with safety pins..

Ahh I could go on and on

I love my cap! Wearing it was a signal to patients that the RN was on the scene. I guess there was a sense of pride in all that. I am an “old nurse” and so value all of my experiences. Nursing has provided me with the opportunity to serve others. Service to others gives more joy back to me than any effort I put forward. I have been a patient in the recent years and I find it funny how nurses do not touch the patients unless absolutely necessary. It seemed taboo. At that low point in my life I needed touch, but certainly did not get it. I would have paid large sums of money to get a backrub! I say BRING BACK THE BACKRUBS and TOUCH THE PATIENTS!.
Now, lets compare “old nursing” to “new nursing”.

Well, I am a 1975 graduate of a Diploma School of Nursing from a Catholic hospital. Talk about strict… I can still see and hear the nuns. Some were kind ,others not so much. To my great surprise during one of my senior days on the ward a new clinical teacher approached me who had a bachelors degree and asked if she could follow me and observe an insertion of a Foley catheter! She never had the opportunity in her 4 years at an accredited university. We worked the night shift in the last 3 months with a minimum wage as reimbursement. Our graduation was in our local Catholic church which made it all the more serious and solemn. Yes it is a calling. I tried hard not to be a nurse trying all kinds of jobs but finally acquiesced and said, “OK , I’ll be a nurse!” Today, December 7th is my 42nd graduation anniversary. I remember waiting the long 6 weeks for my grades and license after taking the board exams for 3 days. What a relief is was to know I made it. I think I am starting a new phase now in my career… once a nurse always a nurse.

Jean Giannone. I graduated 1992 from a diploma program and I was an older student, age 39. I believe my schooling was at the end of the “old school”. I did have a brief experience spiking glass IV bottles, flush IVs when hanging a piggy back and using those short metal rods with a loop on each end. Wore dress uniforms and white nurse shoes, stood inspection before each clinical. Pants were permitted in our last year. Received our caps and proudly wore them. Used the Kardex and had the three color pens. Learned so much in three years, I was ready for my first job as a GN. The LPNs on my floor were very happy to have a diploma grad who was able to do hands on. Went into home care and enjoyed having the independence and responsibility of being an RN. Now I work from home for an insurance company being a care manage/coach for medicare members. I do love being a nurse.

Though my cap is in a clear plastic tote, it is yellowed with age. Getting it meant the world to me in nursing school many, many years ago. I remember spiking glass IV bottles & using metal injectors for IMs. We used to admit patients the night before surgery for preps & chlorhexidine baths before surgery. I’m now retired but I miss my calling everyday. I will always be a Nurse; it’s who I am. I am proud of the care I gave to my patients & their families. I am grateful to have been an “old school Nurse.”

Oh my God… thank you all “old nurses” for that trip down memory lane!!! I laughed,cried & said “oooh yeh I remember that. I have been a nurse over 30 yrs & still have my cap & my Florence Nightingale candle from my Capping Ceremony.
Thank you all so much

Read this article while in the Cardiac Care Unit of a major teaching hospital. 30 years as a Critical Care Nurse. Never did a patient of mine go to sleep in tears because of a life altering diagnosis , last night this fifty year old nurse went to sleep in tears for that exact reason. My nurse was in the Hall at her portable nurses station talking about her date. There is something to be said for old school.

Graduate of diploma school 1974. Graduated Friday and started work the following Monday as a GN
Worked in peds with newborns to 3 year olds. Team leading. 16 children on a team. 1 aid and an LPN
Passed all meds, did percussion treatments,passed trays, transcribed orders, gathered all charts for rounds. No pumps for IVs. Had to closely monitor drips, rates as low as 5 cc per hour and certainly couldn’t let too much fluid infuse by mistake since patients were children. Parents didn’t always stay with children. Babies had to be fed, and older children helped with food. Didn’t wear gloves routinely unless in isolation. Window and floor air conditioning. Learned a lot about time management. Very little chance for meals or rest. Loved every minute. Have always felt I am a great nurse thanks to education and experience. But also feel nurses develop a sixth sense about their patients and need to anticipate what is going on. Still work 1 day a week in a clinic. I know nursing will always be a part of me and my identity. I think that we old school nurses think outside the box much better and are able to find alternative solutions to situations. Good luck to all the new nurses. Wish you could experience one day of the old school nurses

Oh I love these comments!! And YES, Nursing is a CALLING! Anyone who is in it for “the money” will not last long!! Please, go work at WAWA!
p.s. I still struggle over calculating !V drips by hand! It was not my forte’ in nursing school, but I am now a Neurosurgical Nurse Practitioner and I have worked in hospitals all my life. I LOVE CARING FOR MY PATIENTS!

Loved this! Remember wearing dresses with hose. Starting Iv’s without gloves? Not being afraid to get dirty? Having to bounce a coin off our sheets! And enemas! Oh, and metal bedpans! Lol. Once had a tweaking trauma pt hit me with one! Oh, and recovering post op patients in the ICU at night

Thank you so much for this story and the comments below. Priceless! I laughed and I cried because I’ve been there, too. I graduated in 1982. I’ve done the nurse’s cap and remember bumping it on everything tearing out a few strands of hair each time. Lol. The support hose and the nurse mates shoes, too. I started out working med/surg which was that plus overflow from every other floor in the hospital when or if they were full. There were no detox or rehab facilities back then so we got Etoh abusers, DTs, ODs ,etc. I remember leather restraints. I remember everyone coming to attention when the nurse supervisor visited the floor. All of a sudden you felt the need to go and make a round on your patients. Lol. Usually there was a little cubby with one chair for the docs to go and record on the Dictaphone so there were times we had to get up and let them sit. I admit I wasn’t crazy about it. Otherwise tho,the patient care we gave..I wouldn’t change that experience for the world. I don’t know what nursing will end up being like in the future. But I recently started working in an assisted living facility that does not use the computer for anything much and I missed not having to do paper MARs. They still use them. So, the future won’t be all bad, I think. We adapt. We’re good at it. As long as we never forget who and what comes first and that is the patient/resident. Best of luck to you all.

Answert call bells. Seems today that new nurses today do not want to answer call bells especially in LTC facilities.

I started as a CNA in 1971 and graduated as an RN in 1974. Currently I am a licensed nursing home administrator . But, I always tell my patients that “I am a nurse first and an administrator second”. I still answer call bells, put patients on bedpans and give meds when the staff is busy. Over the years, I have been disappointed with what I call “clip board nurses”- students who think that when they graduate, they will automatically become a manager and not have to ever get their hands dirty. I try to mentor the students by involving them in every treatment and procedure we are doing on the unit- but unfortunately, more times than I like-the students would rather sit and read the chart then to get in there are absorb the experience. Remember:
1. Clysis
2. Mercurochrome and Maalox for wounds (and don’t forget that heat lamp nice and close to the wound!!!!!)
3. Rectal tubes to relieve gas after surgery
4. Warm tea and ginger ale to relieve gas pains
Scraping the inside of and apple skin and giving it to babies when they have diarrhea (the brown pureed stuff was pure pectin!) simple solution without drugs
5. My first job was on a 30 bed med/surg. We would draw up the syringes with the pain meds, label with tape and line your lab coat pockets with them- NEVER gave the wrong medication-checked over and over.
and Lastly, how were we able to give meds, do treatments, transcribe orders, document and still find time to sit and hold someone’s hand who was scared. We did, because we cared for the whole person! not just a task.

Went into Cadet Nurse Program during world war 2, @UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL AUGUSTA GA. yes JAN 2 1945. NO AIRCONDITIONER, NO GLOVES EXCEPT FOR SURGERY. THESE HAD TO BE WASHED AND DRIED AND PACKAGED AND AUTOCLAVED FOR 20 MINUTES. IRON LUNG FOR POLIO PATIENTS WHEN NEEDED, PENICILLIN WAS NEW AND GIVEN 300,00U q3H IN GLUTEAL MUSCLE. RADIUM ROD INSERTED FOR CERVICAL CANCER. ALL SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS WERE WASHED DRIED WRAPPED AND AUTOCLAVED. SCISSORS WASHED AND SOAKED IN SPECIAL SOLUTION SO AS NOT TO DULL THEM. WE MADE OUR CAST MATERARAL UP OH THAT FIRST WANGANSTEIN SUCTION I AM 90 YRS OLD NOW BUT STILL DOING NURSING FOR 72 YRS. YES IT IS A CALLING. I HAVE PLENTY MORE TO TELL IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ IT. I LOVE NURSING. IT IS NOT WHO I AM BUT WHOSE I AM HOW ABOUT THOSE METAL BED PANS AND URINALS.

Graduated in ’76; worked at VA for 32 years (bedside and administrative) and during that time also did registry on occasion. The ‘newbies’ r scary but a few of them allowed me to mentor them..what a relief! I suggested to a few of them that maybe nursing isn’t for them cuz it isn’t a JOB! It’s from the heart!! Still working FT for a small ortho hospital with plans to retire December 2018..will definitely miss Nursing however have told my friends that they will be the only nurses taking care of me if ever I am hospitalized!!!

To this day I will not eat anything that has molasses in it. The milk and molasses enema did it for me.

What about giving an iron injection z track or buttoning up 15 small hole buttons on your starched uniform. In nursing school I was sent to the Director of Nursing for dirty shoelaces! Major offense!! On duty we never had lunch or breaks and we did our patients respiratory treatments, range of motion, wound care, ostomy care, IV’s, transported our patients in their beds back and forth to surgery and x ray , passed and removed meal trays, kept track of our patients I and Os assisted Drs on rounds and watched for flagged charts for new orders to be transcribed and answered call lights for all patients not just the ones we were assigned. We gave a full report at the end of our shift that all the nurses attended. We knew our patients because we did it all….. and we loved the work, our patients, families and the blood sweat and tears that went with our “calling”

I am truly old school and proud . Please and thank you without having to be prompted. I loved my cap and I was proud of it. I have been an RN for 40 years. Still working full time. I love my career, I love being a nurse. I may be be computer challenged and I may slip and say Albino instead of suffers from Albinism. But I can still insert a catheter , give a bed bath, and cry when you need me too hold your hand and get you you through a tough time. I am a nurse and I never regret the day I got my pin and Solid Black Stripe in the stiff perfectly white nurses cap.

Also a ’76 Grad & on the Johnson & Johnson mosaic picture of nurses. Old School nurses might not have their caps anymore, but we also don’t have tats or purple hair. We do have class as a result of our professional training, and as a result, status and we look the part. We don’t need training in “customer service” or “service recovery”, because we treated our doctors with respect and we put our patient’s needs first. More time was spent caring for the patient (even though in my early years of team nursing, we RNs were responsible for a ward, i.e. 30 patients) rather than taking care of the computer. Health care regulations were focused on supporting the helping professions instead of regulating our every move as standards were lowered. Doctors and Real Nurses were trusted to practice our profession like professionals. And yes! I DO believe being a Real Nurse is a calling. Although I love some of the new folks entering the profession; some think it is a job (they leave – they always have) and those who find a career . . . Mmmmm Maybe the calling is just a little harder to heat in today’s noise

Graduated in ’76 and wore a hat about one year. Also wore white oxfords and support hose for about one year before I realized they were killing me. I bought Earth shoes and white socks to wear with my white polyester pant suits, so much better. I still do hospital corners and face the pillow opening away even at home. Who remembers smoking at the nurses station and getting ashtrays for patients and for the Drs?
The “children” I work with are awesome nurses and I am proud of them every day.

So nice to hear all of the memories. Doing direct patient care since 1965(Corpman). RN in 82, ADN. I have been so proud to have been a Nurse, who happens to be male. I remember Captain Stuart Harold, USAF in 1965, an RN who I remember to this day as a motivator for me to be a Nurse. Nursing has supported me and my family, given us many advantages both personally and financially so that we may progress as a family. I will retire in 2 years at age 72, reluctantly, because I know I will miss it terribly. It will have been a wonderful ride.

I graduated from a diploma school in 1971, and I still work full time in a hospital. One thing I remember is that there was nothing disposable on the trays we took in the rooms for different procedures (foley insertions, enemas, etc.). Everything was metal and glass, so it could be re-sterilized. Bad enough the few times I dropped the tray after it had been used – but I dropped one I hadn’t used yet that had the 1000cc soap suds enema solution in the pitcher! I also remember dissolving Demerol tablets in sterile water to draw up in a syringe!

I’m a 1988 diploma grad and proud of it! I no longer work at the bedside, knee can’t take 12-16 hour shifts anymore, but patient care is my first love! I loved my white nurse mate shoes, polished to perfection! Hair above collar, clean clipped nails no polish!I’m sad to see nurses don’t even touch the patient on initial assessment…..sad what would they do if the machines failed

I’ve been an RN since 1976, but worked as an aide while still in h igh school back in 1970. I still work full time– now as an administrator, but I’m a nurse first. still take patients to the bathroom, give injections when my nurses are busy and I still cry while holding the hand of a dying patient. Now, my staff comes to me when they see an order such as for clycis and have never heard of it yet along use it. I tell them old nurse remedies and they crack up laughing. Maybe you remember some: we used Mecurochrome and Mayonnaise to heal wounds (don’t forget the heat lamp!) what were we thinking? applying sugar to a
prolapsed rectum or uterus to help it constrick before pushing it back in. HHH enema. High, Hot and Hell of a lot. If you worked at a catholic hospital- you could not wear pants and the dress had to be below the knees. Oh, the good old days. Looking forward to retirement next year!!!

As a nurse who has often been the patient I have to admit when I have a nurse who has on scrubs she obviously tied in knots before wearing them, dirty looking gym shoes, or a scrub shirt that is pink and green cartoon characters with a scrub jacket that is Santa and Rudolph, I feel a bit unsure of her or his skill set and judgement. I know I am jumping to judge but as a patient you don’t get much face to face time with your nurse so first impressions do set the tone.

Call me” old school”. I Graduated in 1970. I still work 24 hours a week in a very busy ICU. I have live on the cutting edge of Cardiology and wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. I too remember hair off the collar, no jewelry,being on time and spending more time doing a bed bath. I also remember no phone calls at work unless you were on your break. Now everyone has a cell in their pocket and some interrupt report and say oh!! I have to take this call. ???? WHAT. Yes I agree we have come a long way but there are times I think we threw the baby out with the bath water. The rigid rules we lived with in the past are part of what made us the great nurses we are today. One more thing – Doctors now refuse to let me give them my seat, and sometimes I politely tell them “My job is just as important as their job. We just function in a different
capacity.”

I was an CNA first then graduated from LPN 1973, white hose, hair off collar, cap. Got my AAS in Nursing 1981, still in white hose, cap and hair off the collar. Both of my caps are gone but none of the memories!! Baths, back rubs, bed pans. IV’s with drip counts and tape to the new mini infusers for ambulatory patients. Have done most of it all from mopping floors to home health care and now sit behind a computer all day taking symptom calls. From strict uniform policies to now working in my PJ’s if I want. We’ve come a long way and have a long way to go still!!

I was also a diploma nurse! We had excellent teachers and so much hands on nursing experience! When I started my 1st job in 1971, my head nurse told me I was her 1st pick to hire after about 4-5 other interviews. She was looking for a diploma nurse, because we already had so much clinical experience. I was promoted to assistant head nurse on the evening shift, after 3 years.
After 9 years, I was asked to join the IV Therapy Dept. I was with them for 31 years! Back then we mixed most of the chemotherapy we gave IV push. I loved that job, (lots of times running to answer a Code Blue call). All the IV nurses had to go to the Codes, because we never knew who was free at the time of the call. I retired after 40 years, and became parttime babysitter for our 2 granddaughters! I wouldn’t change a thing! ♡♡

I am a 1981 diploma graduate and I wouldn’t trade my education for the world. Back then, we learned how to be nurses and understood how and why things were done the way they were. The newer nurses I see today don’t have near the understanding of nursing the way we did, and there are so many things they don’t know. Clinicals are mostly observation or simulator lab and I would rather have an “old school” nurse care for me any day!! I was never big on caps and NEVER wore one after graduation, but I still have mine in plastic. I don’t think new nurses even have a cap. I hope the “new school” nurses grasp what an honor and a privilege it is to be a nurse.

I had my BSN in 1980, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing #7.

I don’t think I’ll ever give up doing #7!

I graduated from college in 1978. I got rid of my nursing cap as soon as possible. I always wore my hair twisted up in a bun hidden under the cap. So many of those things apply to me, especially the soap and water baths. I still do that, its not a bath unless you get the patient wet and keep them covered with a bath blanket. I never got the drip rate on an IV but we used a dial-a-flow for everything. One thing I’ve noticed that designates me old school is I still aspirate the syringe when giving injections. I’ve asked new students and they tell me that this isn’t taught in nursing school anymore. As for giving up a chair for a doctor, probably not so much. They had their dictation areas and we had our charting areas. All charts were kept in big 3 ring binders. It was a huge transition from white uniforms to colorful scrubs. I love the colorful scrubs. I tell the nursing students I work with that if you don’t love it with all your heart don’t be a nurse.

I got my BSN in 83, Masters in 87 and I consider myself old school because I care more about my patient than the computer which we are now supposed to nurse and not the patient. I keep my hair away from my collar, actually wear scrubs without any collar. I wear any color athletic shoes as long as they are comfortable and I can walk fast in them. I consider my docs my friends and co-workers with us and we function as a team for the patients. YES, I do cringe when I see nurses coming in to work in the morning with hair hanging down their backs and in their eyes. I want to tell them, please put all that hair in a pony tail at least, they look like they had just gotten out of bed.

Old school and proud of it.
Yes focusing on and speaking directly to the individual needs of each and every one of my patients. I allow each patient to think they are the only patient on the planet. (Even when I am swamped, which is MOST OF THE TIME!) A touch on the hand or a cool cloth across the forehead can be some of the best medicine! No need to be rushing around the room and complaining about only having a minute.

Sam…I no what happened, nursing is a call. Its all about the dollars now for some. Ive heard it being said.

New nurses don’t care about their patients the way old sch nurses did or do! Patients can really tell the difference! Really sad. What happened?

Finger nails cut low clear polish or none at all. Fi

Hello all ! its with great pleasure reading all these responses to being an old school nurse. I started my nursing career in 1981 and I am still going, I love being an old school nurse . My! My! i can relate to all the above like yesterday !!! In addition we had to give sitz_ bath for some skin condition,all nails must be cut short and nail polish was a no! no! , no eating or chewing gum on duty …Wow!!! its very different out here now !

I agree with Sue.Most of the time spent in patient rooms are for giving meds checking IVs etc.We are so intent on documenting and entering every last bit of data that you do not realize the view for the patient is either your back or the top of the head.How can you do any observation or assessment? I am an old school nurse. You learn a lot from observation and develop an intuition as to what is happening. It is disturbing to find most doctor offices do not hire R.N.s but med techs who just are intent on getting vital signs on equipment. You can learn a lot of information by listening and taking a B/P by stethoscope and feeling a persons pulse which they are not able to do.There are some aspects of old school nursing I miss but I do not blame those who are nursing now. You
spend a lot of time making sure everything is filled in on your computer check list because in this litigious world we are afraid.

I graduated 1975. There are times I still wear my cap. As a hospice nurse now, when I wear my ‘whites’ my geriatric folk listen to me. They know what I am saying should be adhered to. So easy to give medications when everyone else is “wearing” what they were trying to give him/her.

Permanent stains on my white uniform from an exploded banana bag.

Patient Kardex’s written in pencil. Never mind continuity of care – when a treatment or symptom was completed it was erased because they were all written in pencil. Kardex’s used for ‘report’ one shift to the next.

Chest tubes connected to glass bottles sitting on the floor.

Long rubber rectal tubes remained in place for long periods to relieve gas pressure after any type of GI surgery

Porcelain or metal bed pans

Glass bottles with own glass for drinking water

Hand cranked beds (unfortunately they are still around)

As an “old school nurse”, by your definition, I am surprised that you do not seem to realize that there is another world outside a hospital. I graduated in1965, got my BSN in 70 and my Masters in 82. I stopped wearing a cap two weeks after my first job, when it hit a client when I bent over him. I have been out of a uniform since 1971, in the community, outpatient, research, inpatient. Gee, I thought the purpose of backrub had been to increase circulation, comfort, relaxation, and COMMUNICATION. I continue to mentor students and other nurses. There are some nurses who are ‘OLD SCHOOL’-my definition is they have not kept up with times, do not realize that the patient is the biggest part of the treatment team, and cannot adapt to change. They dictate rather than collaborate.

Where I can get a pair of those white leather shoes these days? They were the best. Remember KY jelly to stick the nursing stripe(s) on the hat after washing, starching, and drying it? I liked the pens with all three ink colors in the barrel?

Old school nurses prefer narrative charting that tells the whole story of the patient, not charting by exception which is a lawyers dream. Old school nurses know the importance of giving real bed bath with soap and water, can allow thorough assessment and develops repore with patients. Amazing how many times a skin cancer or breast or testicular cancer can be detected. Good back rub after you have warmed the lotion in hot water helped patient relax and sleep better. Gave patient your undivided attention for 5-10 minutes while doing this. So sad none of this happens anymore. RNs have become medicine pushers and computer geeks instead of patient care. So sad…

Thanks for the blast from the past!! I graduated in ’81 and can relate to everything in the article and comments. I had forgotten about the different colored ink for different shifts and always took pride in my freshly polished Nurse Mates. My hair was ALWAYS off my collar and I never forgot my school pin! When I wore a dress, white pantyhose were on my legs. LOL. I wore my cap for a long time and always enjoyed seeing the variety of styles worn by different schools. Ahhh…..the good old days! ?

What a walk down memory lane!! I graduated in ’81 and relate to everything mentioned! Polishing our shoes, hair off collar, different ink for different shifts, white pantyhose with dresses, the list goes on. I wore my cap for a long time and always enjoyed seeing the variety of caps from different schools. Ah nostalgia…?

I still give up my chair to the physician who enters the nurse’s station!!

Having a roll of silk tape in your pocket with bandage scissors. Wearing a cotton slip under your (dress) uniform. I graduated from a three year school in 1982. I loved my cap and wore it up until the late 90’s. It was always in the clear tote bag. I do have my nightingale lamp in my curio cabinet. i always wore lace up shoes and yes, I still make hospital corners on my bed!!! I even put my pillow cases on without touching the pillow and the pillow faces away from the door!!! Taping the glass IV bottles to time them and counting drops…micro and mini!!! Those were the good ol’ days. Standing up to give the doctor your seat. Charting long hand and using three colored pens…blue for days, green for evengins, and red for nights. Miss those days

can count IV rate by drop method and knows the term “drams”

We remember how to thunk an IV bottle. We know a standard is a rolling IV pole.

Always thought I was rather “old school” but the cap…seriously the cap!…mine is not anywhere to be found. It disappeared the minute it could. It was a little box thing that looked like I had had Chinese food the night before and decided the box made a lovely hat. Have you ever put a Chinese take out box on your head, secured it with pointy hair pins, and then proceeded to ram your head into every object you could see or not see, driving the pins into your brain, I think mine poked my pituitary gland at one point! If you have done that, then …..well you are weird….and you know what my head felt like for several years!

I love this story and being a male in nursing since 1992 I fit about 7 of them. Another one to add to the list we prefer antique equipment to new technology and we OLD SCHOOL nurses aren’t afraid to tell put a doctor in his place.

Remembers the 1000 cc SS enema!