Clinical pearls for home health nursing: recollections from an oral history.

Before the current array of prepackaged disposable supplies and durable medical equipment, many "clinical pearls" were devised by home healthcare nurses to facilitate self-care and family caregiving in the home. Analysis of the oral history of a home healthcare nurse practicing between 1965 and 1980 identified the practical clinical pearls she created and targeted ingenuity, resourcefulness, and caring as essential attributes of past, present, and future home healthcare nurses.