Nursing: Then and Now

"I'm just an old nurse," says 80-year-old Billie Jean Hodges.

Hodges, who has had 33 years' experience as a nurse and tenure on the Yuma County Hospital District Board, is modest about what she has witnessed during her long career. Yet she has a unique firsthand account of how the nursing profession has evolved in the past half-century that Yuma Regional Medical Center has been in existence.

She says she has seen a lot of innovation during her time in medicine. "They didn't even use sterilization on pediatrics" when she started, Hodges says.

She also remembers "when nurses used to do all their own charting," a task that today is computerized.

"Care has improved due to knowledge," she says, particularly knowledge of the body and anatomy, about which nurses "know more than they ever did."

And care doesn't end when patients leave hospital grounds, according to Hodges. Continuity of care, a nursing philosophy developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, ensures that both nurses and doctors know what sort of home environment patients are returning to, says Hodges.

She says this has led to dramatic improvement in the level of care patients can receive.

Despite many improvements though, Hodges still has a certain measure of nostalgia for the past. She says there are "not as many hands-on" attempts to interact with patients now, though a "good nurse can take the care" necessary to put patients at ease.

She also says that a shortage of nurses has led to a decrease in individual interaction with and face-to-face care for patients.

She also believes there are ways for patients to help health care providers better service them. She urges patients, especially seasonal residents, to keep a copy of their records with them when they transfer to different towns.

"Continuity of records" is key, according to Hodges. She says that something as simple as transferring records from one institution to another can give health care professionals a better chance at providing the very best care possible for their patients.