Any Nurses who trained in 1989 or before......I have a question for you..

[recall]

When you washed/helped to wash someone, did you wear gloves ?

I just happened to get some poo on my hand ( don't ask ) and I washed it off, but I couldn't get rid of the smell. I said to my friend "This takes me back, we used to use washing powder to get rid of the smell, Melena was the worse " She looked at me horrified. Was it just me should I have been wearing gloves ????? I remember wearing them when I was being assessed administering an enema, so I think we used to wear them for procedures, and blood stuff, but not for poo or sick etc.

Please put my mind at rest, I feel all wrong now

Oh blimey I had totally forgotten Nancy Roper

The cancer patients had a glass of stout prescribed with their lunch.
Sisters were really really scary and seemed to have eyes in the back of their heads.
The beds were a fixed height- (high) and all the wheels had to be lined up.

I did a return to practice course about 5 years ago, I went onto an acute medical ward to do 90 hours of ward based blar de blar. We came out of report and I was off, ready for action. The other Nurses sauntered about making tea, and one went onto Google to book a flight They did a drug round eventually, but none of the patients were made comfortable or anything. I sat in a side room with a poorly lady and held her hand, a Staff Nurse kept on looking at me through the window all irritated and doing a cup of tea sign with her hands at me. Then later, some of them went to sleep in the bath

and pillow cases all had the openings facing away from the entrance to the (Nightingale ) ward.....

Thank you Strawberry :)

Pain is what the Patient says it is .....

...occurring where she says it is....

Recall, the more I read, the more I think you were probably in my set...

Sisters and Matrons could walk without making footstep noises and could frighten the shit out of you by just looking at you

in fact I spent the whole fekkin 3.3333 years feeling nervous

Posey I trained in Wolverhampton, I was squeamish and I smoked a lot

Dont forget Maslow and the heirachy of needs. Oh and good old Virginia Henderson.
Dragging huge O2 cyliders from bed to bed to give the nebs

do you remember packing Pilonidal Sinus with massively long pieces of ribbon gauze soaked in custard Proflavin ?

and hats with stripes on

and those elusive beautiful silver belt buckles that your family bought you when you qualified I never got one

God I remember the pilonidal sinus packing and sitz baths. 100mg of IM pethadine 4 hourly, hardly give anything IM now.

and those CLOAKS that were made of wool and crossed over at the front, they were dead warm, I used to wear it to the canteen where I would get my cheese and potato pie and chips

Therugratref how come they don't give stuff IM now then ? I remember doing them in the arse and being really terrified of hitting the nerve, had to be in the outer quadrant. I would spend ages making shapes with my hands to ensure this didn't go wrong. Also, remember pulling the skin across and then releasing it to cause a Z track when doing certain IM, I think it might have been oil based stuff ....??

Most drugs are given IV or orally now. Loads of Antibiotics used to be given IM as did most pain relief.
I think that as a technique giving IM in the bum is pretty much never done now due to the risk of nerve injury and also because the general population has rather more adipose tissue than muscle on their nether regions these days. On the rare occasions I give IM (normally Clorpromazine to agitated patients) I use the thigh, they also advocate using a green needle rather than a blue for the same fat reason.
I remember giving IM iron using the Z track to prevent skin stainning.

Oh yeah, come to think of it, whenever I have been a patient recently I have had a Venflon whapped in, and they have all gone in there.

Expressing Sexuality in ADL = Don't put Fred in salmon pink hospital pyjamas!

( But all the green and blue ones had been used :) )

I think you all sound amazing and dedicated and I sincerely hope there are many more out there like you all.

Just out of interest, what do you pack pilonidal sinus' with these days? Having that packing changed ensured I've dealt with the things myself... (Steak knife/salt baths).

Yep, no gloves for anything. Aseptic technique done with forceps and clean hand/dirty hand. Endless Ob rounds. Damp dusting if ward quiet. Washing all mercury thermometers every afternoon in a big bowl of hot soapy water, then having to shake them like mad to get mercury to the bottom. Back rounds every two hours. The stroke lift. The Australian lift. Dishing out cooked breakfasts with a hangover. Night sisters creeping up behind you in their silent shoes. A 3rd year student in sole charge of the ward overnight. A tray of tea and biscuits made for the consultant before each morning ward round. Those ceramic nelson inhalators on a shelf in the sluice. Plastic wash bowls.

I trained 89-92.

haha such good memories
I loved my nursing cape !

Pilonidal sinus - we would prob use aquacell ribbon to pack or even topical negative pressure.
I do think wound care has improved a lot in nursing.