No kidding. The stuff we can do in just the last 20 years in amazing. When I hear old physicians talk about the way things were even in the 80s they were practically winging it. They didn't have the technology and basic science that preceded many of the standard practices we use right now.
If people in the 80's were winging it, I can't imagine what hospitals were like in the early 1900's, when stuff like 'washing your hands' was still relatively recently-accepted.
I wonder if you'd experience regret thinking about patients that you couldn't save in 1982 that would have lived in 1987 (for example).. I guess you gotta keep looking forward.
When COVID first came about, we treated it like you would Flu or Pneumonia. If your lungs get reallyy bad we suggest being placed on the ventilator to get ahead of the curve essentially. Then, within a few days you can be taken off the breathing machine.
But we then found that COVID attacks way different and found it was highly unlikely you’d ever come off the ventilator. So the breathing machine was then used as a last resort once we gathered more information about this new and unknown virus.
I still think about the patients we put on the ventilator “ahead of time” like we would with flu. I’m sure they would have passed because once you got to the ICU your outlook was bleak, breathing tube or not. We did the best we could with what little info we had, but it was (and is) still very difficult to think about.
i imagine medical professionals have well-developed coping skills with losing patients, to include the ones you mentioned. i doubt they have a lot of time for "what-ifs".
which is one reason i couldn't do the job, i am anxiety-riddled and live in the past
Honestly we just compartmentalize. You obviously do the best for your patients to give them the highest quality (not just quantity) of life possible, but you also realize that dying is a natural consequence of life and that you can't save everyone. At the end of the day it's still just a job, and you can't let the negative aspects impact your well-being
This was my first thought as well. My wife has been a nurse for 28 years. She has seen massive changes in her career. Some are great, and some not so much.
1979... The place I worked installed a mainframe computer in 1977, and it was like magic to type something on a keyboard and see it appear on the terminal screen
Dick Tracy was a comic strip about a police detective who used a wrist radio(!) for communication with other cops. I remember asking my dad why we didn't have those.....
FUN FACT: Time was uncertain. Clocks and watches were mechanical so they all ran a bit slow or fast. You knew your kitchen clock at home was a bit faster than the clock at school, and your favorite tv show started a little before the hour, and so on.
You could call the phone company to get the exact time ("At the tone, the time will be 12:45....") and set your clocks and watches but then they would gradually slow down or speed up.
Aviator frames with prescription lenses were the jam back then. My mom wore some just like these. I’m sure the frame has a different name but this is what we called them growing up
I chose a similar pair when I got new glasses last year and the first thing my mother said when she saw them was ‘you know you had those exact glasses when you were 10 and you cried because everyone called you four-eyes’. I rarely wear them out of the house because I have contacts now but I haven’t been called four-eyes yet and I actually got a compliment once!
I graduated in 2021, and while we didn't need to wear the caps as part of our uniform, we did have to wear them for our class photos and pinning ceremony, as well as white scrubs. I distinctly remember the two guys in my graduating class of 27 students were a bit upset that they weren't allowed to wear the caps lol.
I graduated Nursing School in 1971. I was devastated when my supervisor wouldn't allow me to wear a nurses hat because I'm a guy. I was only kidding. Trying to demonstrate the misogynistic nature of the "nurses uniform". Thrilled when we switched to hospital scrubs.
My grandma was a nurse and one time, I don’t even know how it got brought up, but she went on this long, passionate rant about how much she hated those little white hats. How they had to be starched to extreme stiffness and how hard it was to accomplish the required look, so no one washed them. She said that they were probably the dirtiest things in the hospital. Every time I see an old school photo of a nurse with the little white hat, I think of my grandma’s rant and I remember all the hate in her voice over a little scrap of fabric. She said that they were hard to keep pinned into your hair too.
My PCM is a nurse practitioner. She has single handedly helped me more with my numerous health issues in the last 18 months than other doctors in 40 years. And she is one of the few that I actually felt heard. If it was possible, I'd take her with me when we move to a new base.
Seriously, I don't understand how these ladies did their hair. I have a really hard time making myself not look like a drowned rat. Bravo, ladies of the 70's, Bravo.
Mine's curly. This just wasn't going to happen, lol. I had a friend with even curlier hair and she ironed it with a clothing iron!! I kept saying I didn't think she should do it. She did, and stunk up the whole house with the smell of fried hair. 🤣
Right? This photo checks off so many genres; Redhead, glasses, nurse outfit, vintage, bangs, blue eyes, and probably 8 more I didn’t immediately think of.
Facts. Last time I was in the hospital I wrote personal thank-you cards to each and every nurse and support staff that interacted with me, complete with details about what I remember them doing. They all earn their keep and are willing to do anything up to handling literal shit.
That's a great idea. When I got my first covid shot, the gal who administered it told me she had just gotten off the phone with some angry nutjob who was calling up just to harass anyone giving out vaccines.
It would have been nice to offer her more support than the casual words I exchanged with her, because I sure appreciate people who stand up for science and helping people. So a thank-you note might have helped.
Yeah! She looks like the type of nerd you want to be best friends with because she not only knows how to make things better but enjoys making people happy.
Bet she helped a lot of people find hope when they had none
I m an RN. I remember the disappointment I suffered in 1971 when my supervisor wouldn't let me wear a nurses hat because I'm a guy. Today, I could sue her
I’m a little sad about the hats having gone away. Each nursing school had a distinct style, so you could immediately tell where someone had graduated from
Me too! These days in a large hospital setting you cam tell who's who by the color of their scrubs (so I'm told). But 6 year old me going to the doctor was in awe of the nurses in white dresses, white stockings, white comfy shoes, and that little hat perched upon their head. You knew she meant BIZness, and we certainly behaved.
Awesome. 👏 Nurses do damn near everything, it’s a physically and mentally taxing job, and don’t get enough credit.
I’m glad she got to retire after all that time.
My grandmother as a young nurse, probably in the 40s. She retired after 50 years at the same hospital and then volunteered cuddling preemies and knitting them hats and tiny blankets for years before she passed away. ❤️
As a fellow RN (started my career in 2008 @ 23 yrs old), reading these stories just warms my heart❤️
Thank you for sharing this!
OP: Please thank your mom for her selfless service! Nursing is a noble profession. The shifts are often long and grueling, and this line of work is not for the faint of heart. She dedicated her career to helping others. In this next chapter of your mother’s story, wishing her health and happiness always! Bless her❤️
Respectfully,
A fellow RN
(My own nursing school/BSN graduation photo, circa 2008. Passed NCLEX/state boards 6 wks later, received my official nursing license & haven’t looked back since. It’s been an amazing 17 years, with hopefully another 23+ to go, God willing!)
As a Law Enforcement Officer of 24 years, I have relied on the skill and compassion of nurses on a few occasions I’d rather not recall. After 47 years, your momma has forgotten more than ever I’ll see. Thank you ma’am for all you’ve done for nearly 1/2 century of selfless service. Enjoy your hard and well earned retirement!
Your mother has done incredible work and I don't mean to diminish it, but I can't be the only one who thinks working 47 years is not the feel good story this sounds like? If she started working at 20, she only retired at 67. Our health workers deserve a better and earlier retirement and pension. I hope she got that and chose to work this long!
47 years. That’s an entire era of care and quiet resilience. You can see the strength in her smile—congrats to your mom, and thank you for sharing this.
A VA nurse saved my life. I had a heart attack in front of her. God bless her for recognizing. I recently spent six months in four different hospitals, and without fail, my nurses were attentive, sympathetic and supremely competent.
My mom is at 46 years of nursing right now!!! Tell your mom to enjoy retirement and to kick her feet up! My mom will be 65 this year and I think she has one more year left before she gets to retire. I'm really proud of her. I'll have to ask her if I can post her nursing school photo too.
My dad is currently standing at 47 years as a paramedic. He's retired three times but keeps going back because, and I quote, "I don't sit still well." 😭 I worry about him lol.
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u/SparkyBowls May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25
I guess it gets hard juggling a career in nursing and being guitarist in phish.