50s thrift compared to now.

PipneyJane

Scrapaholic wrote: »

Yes, in the 3 year training , each year had a 6 week block of study . I know the students today don't have a 20 hour week like some do for other subjects + I wasn't meaning that the students don't work for their degree . It just seems that in the olden days of 60's 70's it wasn't as academic as it is now . I'm sure it's very challenging physically and mentally for today's student nurses .

Actually, it probably was as academic as it is now. The biggest difference between my generation of student nurses and today is that now you actually get academic recognition for all the work you put in. My generation (1980's) got the worst of both worlds - as hospital trainees, we had to do exactly the same syllabus as the degree students, but we received no academic recognition. Therefore, when we went for jobs outside nursing (and sometimes even with), we were at a disadvantage.

What has really taken nurses away from patient care is Governmental penny pinching and the increased reliance on lesser grades in their various forms (care assistants, ODA's, etc). This has been happening for decades, though, so I don't expect it to change in a hurry. (SENs were an earlier manifestation.) The logic they employ is this: we can't recruit/retain enough qualified nurses (mainly because they don't pay them a salary comensurate with their level of responsibility or training), so lets introduce a lesser grade to do the basic work (and justify paying them even less money). Why use a qualified nurse for patient care, when you can get someone cheaper who's only done 6-12 weeks theory or none at all? Oh, and you can pay them so much less, which means you can also argue that qualified nurses are overpaid by comparison. So they downgrade the status of nurses even further and push qualified nurses further and further away from patient care.

For nursing, you could just as easily substitute police officers and PCSOs.

When I left nursing, there was no legal minimum nurse-patient ratio in the UK, which meant that hospitals could get away with one qualified nurse for an entire ward of patients. Also, thanks to the "Nursing Code of Conduct" in force at the time, I would be responsible for everything that happened to my patient, even if I wasn't the person who carried out the procedure. Oh, and I was paid less than a secretary.

The best nursing degree courses get the students onto the wards in their first term. (Kings College used to be brilliant at that. I worked with several Kings' trained nurses and quizzed them very thoroughly about it.) In other countries, like New Zealand, student nurses have to do a year's internship after they finish their degrees before they can register. They're required to rotate through several departments as well, to ensure they had a broad range of experience (including, 2 surgical and 2 medical placements).

janb5

I trained earlier than Pipney Jane in the early 70`s and am saddened by the poor care that I see on the wards now. I dont think it is just nostalgia on my part but a definite lowering of standards. I went with my neighbour to our local hospital last year late at night and the night staff were virtually welded to their seats and showed little interest in what was being asked of them. Staff are cut to the bone in some areas and any idea of vocation has been eroded away.

I remember as student nurses we were so enthusiastic and knew our patient`s names and went to say hello and goodbye on each shift- does that happen now?

meritaten

janb5 wrote: »

I trained earlier than Pipney Jane in the early 70`s and am saddened by the poor care that I see on the wards now. I dont think it is just nostalgia on my part but a definite lowering of standards. I went with my neighbour to our local hospital last year late at night and the night staff were virtually welded to their seats and showed little interest in what was being asked of them. Staff are cut to the bone in some areas and any idea of vocation has been eroded away.

I remember as student nurses we were so enthusiastic and knew our patient`s names and went to say hello and goodbye on each shift- does that happen now?

I spent a great deal of time on childrens wards during the 80s as my son had very severe asthma and I can truly say that I saw the standards decline. from the early days when the nurses virtually 'mothered' the children - by the early nineties they 'ignored' them apart from the medical care - and even there some of them were useless! I can remember my severely ill child being admitted onto the ward and the nurse was supposed to start nebulising his Atrovent - and the stupid beetch didnt turn the oxygen up enough! the Atrovent was bubbling but not nebulising - so I did it myself!
and the nurses WERE right - night staff were lazy so-and-so's! I cant remember how many times we (parents) would have to haul a nurse out of the day room to come to see/give meds to our kids! and I once took pity on a kid in the next bed to my son and gave him a good blanket bath, as he had been there a week and not had a wash! No visitors you see.......they were supposed to do it! His Social Worker was livid when I told her!
By the time my son was in his early teens - and I wasnt needed to stay with him - he was well able to fend for himself in hospital. But, even he said the nurses were uppity and there didnt seem anyone to take the place of the SENs and Nursery Nurses who had previously been there.
When he went on to adult wards - it was worse! dont get him started on those!

mumps

PipneyJane wrote: »

The best nursing degree courses get the students onto the wards in their first term. (Kings College used to be brilliant at that. I worked with several Kings' trained nurses and quizzed them very thoroughly about it.) In other countries, like New Zealand, student nurses have to do a year's internship after they finish their degrees before they can register. They're required to rotate through several departments as well, to ensure they had a broad range of experience (including, 2 surgical and 2 medical placements).

I employ several student nurses, some do bank work during term time at the local uni, some others are local but attend unis further away but do some work in holidays (they worked fulltime in their gap years.) Two are at the local uni, the others are all attending different unis. Only one didn't do a placement in their first term and she started her first placement on day one of term two.

mumps

I think care varies and it always has. I remember my mother and aunt going into hospital and feeding and washing their father as the care he got was pretty awful, to be fair the nurses were understaffed and this was in the early 70s. I remember my aunt giving birth to a dead baby and this was in the 60s and it was due to lack of care by the midwife, I was only a kid at the time so don't know all the details but I think there was an inquest and the hospital were found to be at fault.

My son had surgery in the 70s and I will always remember saying to two student nurses that they should pick up a toddler who was crying and distressed. They looked at me in horror and asked why, I said she needed a cuddle and they looked relieved as they said, "We dont do emotional development till next year." then turned and walked off.

I remember the hard hearted !!!!! who looked after my gran when she was dying of cancer, she was supposed to be a district nurse but shouldn't have been in any sort of caring job.

I also remember the lovely midwife who looked after my mom when my little brother was born, the lovely midwife who delivered my babies in the 70s.

More recently I had great care in the local hospital, nurses definitely did have time to wash patients and some people took the mickey wanting the bath hoist when they were well able to get to the bathroom. They openly admitted when the nurses weren't around that they wanted to be kept in as long as possible as they had hospital plans that paid them £50 a day while in hospital. They were planning how to spend the money.

At the same hospital my daughter had awful treatment the same year and we made an official complaint.

I don't think there is or was a golden age, sometimes you just get lucky and sometimes you don't.

Angel_Jenny

Amazing to read accounts of people who actually lived through the 50s not just the rose tinted versions!

I think there is a lot to be learnt from the frugal / neighbourly skills of that time.

DundeeDoll

When my uncle was prem the midwife told my nan to get him christened asap cos he wouldnt survive long. No sympathy, no empathy, just cold and factual. That was the sum total of care. My nan's mil made little suits out of cotton wool and they took itin turns to massage him witholive oil and coax a little milk in. Next month we're having a big bash to celebrate his 80th!

thriftwizard

My Mum, born during the General Strike of 1926, weighed just 3lbs as her mother was already dying of TB - she lasted less than a year. My great-grandmother found my mother in a bucket in the sluices (hospital utility room) whimpering; she'd been thrown in there as "unlikely to survive - will only distress the mother." She wrapped her up, stuffed her into her coat, took her home & fed her Nestle's Condensed Milk from a fountain pen; we celebrated her 86th birthday last month.
But it's no use asking Mum about the 50s - she spent most of them in Sri Lanka, as my Dad was then a vicar in Columbo, and enjoyed herself hugely, as she had a cook & an ayah to help care for my older brothers. A very different lifestyle from a damp, penniless & freezing vicarage in England!

Justamum

thriftwizard wrote: »

My great-grandmother found my mother in a bucket in the sluices (hospital utility room) whimpering; she'd been thrown in there as "unlikely to survive - will only distress the mother."

No humanity at all to just throw a new-born away like that. Actually words really fail me

meritaten

Justamum wrote: »

No humanity at all to just throw a new-born away like that. Actually words really fail me

Its strange but some premature babies DID survive even before special care baby units and incubators. usually with the help of condensed milk and either an eye dropper or a fountain pen!