General Chat

I remember being on night duty on the childrens ward as the only nurse although Night Sister was popping in and out often. Scary to think how much trust was given to a young nurse.
Had to wait for a relief nurse so that I could go and eat.

Love and Peace
Marianne.x

Remember night duty on Gynae ward and drinking the ginger beer----suppose to be for the patients to help with there Flatus---wind to those who don't know

And nearly getting caught on nights----when we fancied fish and chips and some ones boyfriend would get them for us before the shop shut and leave them on a window sill----ward on ground floor---night sister came to do rounds and she must have smelt them----they were delicious---after being warmed up in the oven

Oh, that dreadful tow! Was all that was available before paper came in, and was really better than the Izal sandpaper which came in first. Laying up trolleys for theatre and trying to remember that certain surgeons had their own preference in instruments and the comments they made sometimes about the patients! I still have my copy of Trays and Trolleys for nurses, My bible. Have one called hygiene for nurses which describes the proper sterile care of everything. Jean

I trained also1958 -1961. Worked in the general hospital till '71 then cont'd working in a nursing home.I can remeber putting the oven on in the ward kit., on nights to keep warm never mind heating up delicious fish and chips!

What about Evelyn Pearce's General Textbook of Nursing, Materia Medica for Nurses, Medicine for Nurses and Surgery for Nurses!

I`ve got the last two plus others --who would want them now? A bit out of date !!

I bought a couple of old nursing books on Amazon last year. I think that my own went to a book seller about 40 years ago. How I wish that I had kept them but circumstances at the time meant that some one else got rid of them and told me later. Oh well never mind, I wonder if they are still in existance collecting dust in some ones attic. Lol.

Love and Peace
Marianne. x

Morphine came in pill form you had to work out the dose and disolve the pill in water over the Bunson burner.
Then inject the correct(?) dose into the patient!!

Bet

And penicillin for injection came in a powdered form and you had to add sterile water and give it a shake.

Might be collectors items in years to come Ros with technology speeding along like it is! Now I'll have to go up in the loft and unearth my books if I've kept them . Can't remember!

Anyone mentioned the false teeth cleaning? Yuk..

Does anyone remember the GATE clips for use on catheter tubing ?
I still have mine in a presentation box - I was presented the Order of the Gate Clip by the qualified staff on the unit when I was a student in 1983.
Joan

I shock a lot of people with that story of making the morphine in a teaspoon. Wasnt penicillin a wonder. I think our old books would teach a thing or two to those hospitals with a bad record for cleaning. I realise that more nurses are neede now on every ward simply because no one does the hours we did.
There are two books by Lucilla Andrews which strike bells with me The Secret Armour, and ,One Night in London. Jean

I remember in fact still have those books,and i remember gate clips---heavy things they were.
Do you remember giving your first injection---I had a reall stroppy nurse -,cos I was a wimp and didn't want to hurt the patient---she said "Come just get on with it don't be so soft"
Bet they daren't do that now!!!

Ann
My first injection was to an elderly gent of 83 who was very thin and this was in the days of the upper outer quadrant of the buttock. I remember it hitting what I thought was bone. I am afraid of needles anyway so wasn't a good experience.
Needlesss (lol) to say I couldn't imagine how many Im injections I have done since 1969.

Di

Practising injections with an orange in the skills lab.
Many students these days laugh at the thought but having a go wouldn't go amiss.
Learning how to bed bath and change beds with patients in.
Joan

I bent the needle on the first patient I injected, I think I was more shocked than he was! We had to be tested and watched by a medical officer before we were 'licenced' To give injections. In outpatients at the little ten bed hospital I was at one summer,( a TA camp) I was cleaning aboil on the back of a young lads neck with ether, and next thing he had slid gracefully onto the floor in a faint!
Have had a young male refuse to drop his trousers for a penicillin injection 'not in front of a woman' How very different to today! Jean

My Surgery for Nurses book is my pride and joy - it still sits proudly on my bookshelf.

All those exams! Prelims at the end of first year.

*invades thread*

Just want to say to you all, I have spent so much time in so many hospitals and if it wasn't for the kindness, humour (and sneaky arrangements for me to be human *wink wink*) shown by nurses I wouldn't have survived the blasted doctors!!!

From someone who really appreciates nurses of all grades.

Sue xx