Massages From Nurses.

[SanFranciscan]

ITA. I would take an old school diploma prepared nurse over today's BSN any day. A big part of the old fashioned care is lost now, and nursing is much more than medications, documentation and technical care.

I am not a nurse. I worked as an aide in a nursing home for the short period that I could stand the fact that none of these people were going to get well and the fact that I was just there to babysit them in conditions so demeaning to them that most just wanted to die. While there I did meet an ex-nurse who went to one of the diploma schools, which appear to have mostly, if not entirely, closed now. I asked her how much she had paid for her nurse's training. She looked aghast and said "Oh, no, we got paid!"

If you are having problems with your BSN students, the problem may be that they are feeling a little ripped off and thinking "I went to four years of college for this?!" I worked as one of the peppermint stripes girls when I was 15 and 16, and I remember hearing the hospital administrator complain that she needed bedside nurses while all of her applicants seemed to want administrative jobs like supervising.

The cost of college tuition is so high that I suspect those who make it through BSN programs tend to come from higher economic backgrounds. I do suspect that the old diploma schools took people from more blue-collar backgrounds if student-nurses were students in name only and working nurses otherwise. The older nurses that I worked with as a hospital volunteer told me that they remembered when someone could go to work as a nurse's aide and become a nurse. The closing of the diploma schools may have much to do with the nursing shortage since the time line is about the same, and youngsters from blue-collar backgrounds would be less likely to be offended at being expected to do physical work during which they may be very dirty.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

some of us BSN/MSN nurses still do some "old school" things

I think what the poster meant is that out of all the degrees a nurse could earn, diploma, ADN, BSN, a nurse earning a diploma receives the most clinical time during her schooling.

I remember when I was taking my review class. The instructor told us, it goes in order of diploma, ADN, then BSN of the percentage of nurses that pass their boards. She felt BSN nurses failed boards the most because they didn't have as much clinical as diploma or ADN , most was bookwork.

Our bachelor program only gave 8 hours total of clinical per week vs some diploma programs that had 8 hours a 2-3 times a week.

 

[crz4mm2]

I heard a conversation between two R.N.'s, a new graduate and one who just retired. The older one was saying that all of the patients used to get massages from their nurses before bed. This surprised me because I didn't think that nurses would have time for this since so much of their time is spent just trying to keep their patients clean and alive. The younger nurse said that nurses were not supposed to massage patients because legally massage work was supposed to be done by certified massage therapists.

While I don't want hospitals to start treating nurses like spa workers in a hotel instead of health care workers, is the young nurse right that nurses who aren't massage therapists would be in violation of the law? Maybe they just want to help a nervous patient, who just wants attention, to relax and stop ringing the buzzer.

While it wasn't a "true" massage, we did back care with lotion and a lot of rubbing the back. This was when I first started in 89...... I was taught by an "old" nurse (one who had been nursing 20 years at that time).
We did this at the first round of night shift to help people sleep better (we started the shift at 11 pm).

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I remember when I was taking my review class. The instructor told us, it goes in order of diploma, ADN, then BSN of the percentage of nurses that pass their boards. She felt BSN nurses failed boards the most because they didn't have as much clinical as diploma or ADN , most was bookwork.

You can let her know this is no longer the case.

2009
Diploma 90.75%
BSN 89.49%
ASN 87.61%

https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2009.pdf


2008
Diploma 87.5%
BSN 87.5%
ASN 86.2%
https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_20082.pdf


2007
Diploma 87.9%
BSN 86.4%
ASN 84.8%
https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2007.pdf

 

[mefordis]

I'd appreciate you as my nurse. It sounds like you take a lot of pride in what you do!

My LA county(which BTW is the hospital you see during the opening of the General Hospital soap) diploma fills me with pride. Their graduates have a well earned fabulous reputation. I went on to earn a BSN, and MSN, but my diploma made me the nurse I am.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

You can let her know this is no longer the case.

2009
Diploma 90.75%
BSN 89.49%
ASN 87.61%

https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2009.pdf


2008
Diploma 87.5%
BSN 87.5%
ASN 86.2%
https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_20082.pdf


2007
Diploma 87.9%
BSN 86.4%
ASN 84.8%
https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2007.pdf

Thats good to know. I took my boards over 20 years ago. I hate to hear when anybody fails their boards though, so sad.

 

[RNMOM]

I graduated nursing school 35 yrs. ago and have a diploma. Part of working 3-11 was pm care as stated above. The nurses usually did this as part of their assessment of the patient. You can learn a lot by helping them prepare themselves for bed and making their environment as comfortable as possible. This even included removing any papers, food items and having fresh water. When we gave backrubs it was with lotion and helped stimulate the circulation and to prevent sores. It gave us a chance to check for skin breakdown. That is what is really lacking IMHO these days. It is really important to touch and put your eyes on the patient not just follow written protocols and orders. We had nurses aides and LPN's too and we often worked in tandem marching down the hall doing the work together till it was all done then we could all relax and do our charting and have our breaks.

So often patients aren't even offered baths or chances to comb their hair as there aren't enough staff. People heal better when they have a positive feeling about themselves and are comfortable. Again, IMHO.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I took my boards over 20 years ago.

Me too. Remember we had to wait a couple of months to see if we passed? Then the letter came in the mail?

 

[crz4mm2]

Me too. Remember we had to wait a couple of months to see if we passed? Then the letter came in the mail?

Yeah,and if it was a thin envelope you passed, thick you failed
2 days of testing. makes me to remember it!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Me too. Remember we had to wait a couple of months to see if we passed? Then the letter came in the mail?

Yeah,and if it was a thin envelope you passed, thick you failed
2 days of testing. makes me to remember it!

Oh my gosh , do I remember! It was pure torture.

I remember going to the mailbox and seeing the thin envelope and screaming I passed, I passed. We lived on a very close knit street and all the neighbors who were outside and heard me started yelling with me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've been at the bedside since the 80's. Much has changed since I started.

Acuity and technology has increased exponentially since then. Rooms that were built many years ago cannot even support all the wires, plugs and space for all the computers and biomedical equipment that we have now. I was saying to someone last week that pretty soon, nursing schools are going to have to include engineering courses - and I wasn't kidding. We must be adept at working all this stuff (if finding something alone isn't enough of a challenge).

Besides that, it is truly mind boggling how much documentation - paper and online - MUST be done these days. It's enough to make your head spin. If it's not done, it leaves the nurse, the patient and the hospital vulnerable. So for every nurse it's a MUST DO. If a nurse is routinely behind or lacking in his or her documentation, it's a problem; something they'd get called into the office for.

Of course, most nurses went into nursing because they like people, not pushing pencils or operating machines. If I wanted to do that I would be an administrator or an engineer but I'm not; I'm still a nurse and still love patient care and being at the bedside. Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to, I can't spend all of my time completely with the patient as I have other important work I have to do that's required of me - not just for patient care but for unit operations. If I don't do exactly what I have to do in a perfectly timely manner, it's a problem. Again, everyone's left vulnerable. Bottom line is that there's an awful lot of a different type of pressure on nurses at the bedside today.

With all that said, I am continually amazed and proud of the newest generation of nurses I am working with. They STILL HAVE that human touch (even though they weren't trained in a diploma program). I see it every day. Despite the craziness of life working on an extremely busy, extremely acute unit, they are always there to provide the hands on care necessary for excellent care. How do we know? Our patients tell us so. Not just verbally or in notes, but in patient satisfaction scores from an independent agency. Now does that mean that back rubs are given routinely in the evening every night? No. But it does mean that, like I said in my first post, if a patient has back discomfort, one of the interventions they are likely to receive is physical care to their back, and that physical care is likely to include a heating pad and probably a back rub besides just having medicine thrown at them.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

One thing I've learned that's HUGE is that a nurse MUST have adequate staffing levels in order to provide the care he or she wants and needs to provide. Continually running around and being behind in work benefits no one and burns you out in a very short time. I have worked in places that were woefully understaffed and I left in tears every day being unable to provide the type of care I wanted to, which was impossible there. I actually had an argument with a doctor one time after I left who was complaining about the nurses there. I told him that I was one of those nurses and I'm no different there than I am here [with my new employer]; here I was just given the proper tools to work with. It makes a big difference. I would suggest to nurses new to the profession, that if you're going to work in a hospital, find one that values proper staffing levels.

 

[crz4mm2]

Oh my gosh , do I remember! It was pure torture.

I remember going to the mailbox and seeing the thin envelope and screaming I passed, I passed. We lived on a very close knit street and all the neighbors who were outside and heard me started yelling with me.

Yeah, mine was a day later than everyone else I took boards with Then when I pulled it out of the mailbox, it was THICK..... I was scared to death to open it. It was some advertisement about rating the review class I took!

SO I passed too

 

[Pea-n-Me]

LOL, I never heard about the thick/thin envelope thing. Good thing - I would have been more of a wreck than I already was.

I had just started my first job as a Graduate Nurse and was a week into it when the [thin] envelope came. If I failed, I'd lose my job.

I remember shaking opening it, and sobbing for a minute or two when I saw I passed.

Thanks all for sharing the memories. Sappy, I know, but I love my fellow nurses here even though we don't know eachother or work together. We're still in the trenches together - virtually.

 

[npierce25]

im in nursing school now and they talk about how that used to happen. and i dont think is a massage in the fullest of terms, but more like a little shoulder or back rub. just to be relaxind or soothing, not ment as a form of therapy

 

[lauradenise4779]

im in nursing school now and they talk about how that used to happen. and i dont think is a massage in the fullest of terms, but more like a little shoulder or back rub. just to be relaxind or soothing, not ment as a form of therapy

Me too. It's in my fundamentals book. However, we weren't taught it as a form of regular pm care, but as something to try if the pt is having trouble falling asleep. We were supposed to make sure the pt's room was comfortable for them (lights, temp, etc), that their linen was clean and wrinkle free, then offer a back/ shoulder massage to help them relax. It was in the scope of helping them fall asleep without medication. I know it sure would help me if I couldn't fall asleep!

 

[Judy from Boise]

im in nursing school now and they talk about how that used to happen. and i dont think is a massage in the fullest of terms, but more like a little shoulder or back rub. just to be relaxind or soothing, not ment as a form of therapy

I think you are confusing the verb and the noun. Of course it is a massage, because the nurses are massaging the muscles (the verb), and it certainly is for a therapeutic reason. Please don't think massage is not a legitimate tool in the nurse's tool box. You could even put it on the NCP!

Now it of course is not a spa treatment (the noun).

 

[Judy from Boise]

LOL, I never heard about the thick/thin envelope thing. Good thing - I would have been more of a wreck than I already was.

I had just started my first job as a Graduate Nurse and was a week into it when the [thin] envelope came. If I failed, I'd lose my job.

I remember shaking opening it, and sobbing for a minute or two when I saw I passed.

Thanks all for sharing the memories. Sappy, I know, but I love my fellow nurses here even though we don't know eachother or work together. We're still in the trenches together - virtually.

I boarded in 1985. It was in the LA sports arena with about 20,000 of my closest friends including 10 buses of candidates who flew in from the Philippines. 2 full 8 hr days, them an 8 week wait! Boy that was hard! I think at the time LA County had 100% pass rate, and let me tell you, I did not want to be the first to mess it up!

 

[daisax]

Would you be allowed to refuse it? I really, really don't like people touching my neck and shoulders. Yes, I know you're nurses and that's different... but unless I have a neck injury and must submit to care for it, I would not find that the least bit restful or therapeutic.

 

[Judy from Boise]

You have the right to refuse any treatment. , If you did I would probably offer you a hot pack instead. At our hospital the vollunteers make rice packs in nice flannel, that we microwave for the patients. Then of course they are a gift when you leave.