The History of Perioperative Nursing

By: Ruth Crothers, RN BSN CNOR RNFA

Why Care About The History of Nursing?

You have to know who you are and where you come from. If you dont know where you come from, how do you know where you are going?

F. Fleisher, The Jazz Singer-1980

Leg Surgery Performed in the Kitchen

Eye Surgery in the City Plaza

Hand Washing & Boiling of Instruments Practiced Much Later

Early Neurosurgery 1561

Women Go To War
Early recognition of the importance of hand washing. Gradually, cloths, instruments and dressings were meticulously cleaned. The practice of asepsis was advanced.

Due to the Influence of Louis Pasteur, Various Types of Sterilizers Were Developed and Asepsis Became the Standard

Civil War Nursing

Anesthetics allowed for more complicated surgeries. Fatal infections occurred in more than 30% of patients. Draining of incisions began around 1860 to treat infections.

The Agnew Clinic

1899

In 1891, rubber gloves were introduced and later the face mask was adopted

Spanish-American War 1899

Positioning Patients in the 1800s

Gyne Chair 1878

OR Table 1850

OR Nursing Late 1800s

Operating Room Theatre
1898

Operating Theatre 1897 In 1901 the four blood groups were identified for blood transfusions.

OR Nursing in the 1890s

The student nurse was responsible for sterility of equipment. She prepared the room, scrubbed the floor and walls with antiseptics. Dressings were boiled, soaked and wrapped in antiseptic towels or large glass jars. She prepared everything that was needed including.

Surgical Supplies
Hot water bottle Stimulants Clean towels Soft rags Lint Basins Pails Hot and cold water Bran Sticking plaster Carbonized water Ice Pins Needles Silk Petroleum jelly Soap Oil silk Sponges Rubber blanket Pillow Sheet to cover patient

OR Nursing Education
The nurse was to read no medical books. Nursing texts did not exist. If she wishes to be a physician, she should go to medical school. Nurses who read medical books are overburdening their brains. In any case, any information read would not be remembered overnight.

World War I

OR Nursing France 1918

Administered Anesthesia Sutured and Tied Placed Drains Removed Dead and Devitalized Tissue

OR & Anesthesia-First Nursing Specialties

Surgery 1918

Surgical Gloves
Recycling Gloves

Choosing gloves for an Appy 1941

Surgery Prep 1940s

X-ray Department 1940s

WWII Nurses

World War II

World War II Nurse POWs

New Professionalism

Instrument Nurses 1950s

Surgical Bunker - Korean War

Korean War OR

M.A.S.H. Images of Nurses

Margaret Hotlips Hoolihan

A True Perioperative Nurse

Major Hoolihans image evolved much like the image of nursing.

Surgery Team 1960s

Nursing Images of Viet Nam War

Capt Eleanor Grace Alexander, US Army, BSN, RN, Age 27 Died in aircraft crash on 11/30/1967, Central Highlands, Republic of Vietnam Her remains were guarded by Sgt W. J. Doyle, Jr, USAF, at Dover AFB, DE Mortuary

Operation Desert Storm

Student Nurses in the OR

Most nursing curricula offered 1216 weeks perioperative experience

Students were exposed to the practice of perioperative nursing

1984 Survey of 1400 Schools

16.6% offered perioperative nursing in basic curriculum 13.3% reported integration of perioperative nursing as elective 67% had no perioperative content Virtually no perioperative experience offered today.

Welcome To Perioperative Nursing!