Any Ideas For Celebrating Nurses Week?

[fromtheheartRN]

I was put in charge of Nurses Week celebration on our unit. I am up for the fun, but I need ideas. I have some myself, but I always let my small ones turn into giant undertakings! Is there anyone here who enjoyed a memorable celebration on their units? I would appreciate any ideas that you can share.

We have about a hundred employees...60 are RNs. I would like to include everyone in some way...including the Unit Sec's.

We work 12's (7-7), and need to get something together that would work with both shifts.

I am not even sure if my director will allow a budget for me (ice cream social, maybe some small gifts for a drawing??)

I want to make it special....this will be our first celebration of it's kind!!!

Thanks for your help!

[lindarn]

When you put it that way, I have to agree! I would much rather have a raise than a trinket w/the hospital logo!! It's condescending now that I think about it. We're not children hoping for goodie grab bags!! The problem is most of us set our standards so low that we appreciate these "feel good" gratuities! Try paying us what we're worth and respecting us & appreciating us the rest of the year!!

And this mentality is planted, rewarded, and reinforced, starting in nursing school (see my above post). Martyr marys are rewarded, and the discontent (realists) are targeted, harassed, and bullied out of nursing. This is hospitals' and nursing homes' way of "gentically", 'weeding out' the "troublemakers". A constant turnover of new grads in a revolving door profession ensures that none of the "troublemakers" will "infect" the new grads who have yet to learn what a mistake it was to choose nursing as a profession.

Add this to the hospitals and nursing homes who scream, "nursing shortage", and then pressure our elected officials to bring in foreign nurses and/or "dumb down" and de- skill our professional practice, is what makes nursing a short lived career for most of the new grads coming out of school.

Sure, maybe they want to be nurses, but most of them see the light in a short period of time, and plan their career accordingly to allow for a BSN, if they were ADN or Diploma grads, Masters, and NP or CRNA, to get as far away from bedside nursing has fast as they can.

And most of us jump for joy at the mere thought of some form of recognition, any form of recognition, that validates our worth as licensed medical professionals, and what we bring to improving patient care. God Forbid, we finally start to bill for our services like other "real" health care professionals do. That will be the only way we will ever be able to be paid what we are worth, when there is a CPT Code after "Nursing Care" on a patients' bill. JMHO, and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

sorry that i disagree with the naysayers of the world who contribute nothing positive to the practice environment in the way of good vibes.

my parents, grandparents, spouse all get a gift on their birthday, mothers fathers, anniversary, christmas, valentines etc along with special "i'm thinking of you" food item when the mood strikes. dad still sends the easter basket home for refill reminder for the next year.

i extend the same warm "i'm thinking about you" to my staff throughout the year out of my pocket. large tin of cherry drops given each for valentines day; food tray chicken strips, carrot salad + brownies for birthday celebrations; christmas holidays was poinsettia + home cooked food + stress reduction candle, mothers day flowering plant for all staff to welcome spring.

nurses week celebration i usually make a breakfast type casserole for entire agency: last years was fruit stuffed frrench toast; second shift was served theirs at dinner time. hr sends me list of all staff and i compile list showing year initially licensure to reflect # years of practice. coveted allnurses pens given out to all the staff----cna's get a bunch as our eyes and ears in the home. since my staff are intake rns and clerks, staff received memo pads, stickies, hand gel and allnurses pens wrapped up in gift bag. management gives out gift selected by nursing staff each year: umbrella, beach towel, travel mug, etc... last year was zippered tote bag. i mailed handwritten note to each staff members home thanking them for their dedication and hard work. department was featured in agency's quality circle newsletter with photo of the crew.

all these gestures were mentioned by staff as reason they stay in my department. clerical turnover = 1/yr past 3 years; zero for nurses.

this year plan to take picture of staff at their desk/working in office and frame for the office with framed copy to the individual staff member. thinking of "high tea" as more of the staff drinking tea these days with herbal tea basket they can pick out item and finger type sandwiches. coffee pot is always on ---provided by the agency.

more nurse week ideas:

need ideas for nurses week - allnurses: a nursing community for nurses

a gift to yourself: for nurses week, support the center for nursing advocacy

nurse appreciation week" gifts from employer - allnurses: a ...

nurseweek: food, fun, and fame : celebrations focus on nation’s ...

nightingale moment events

american nurses association - national nurses week

[leslie :-D]

karen, there's a big difference between your gestures and 'theirs'.

yours are heartfelt and w/integrity...

and consistent.

you recognize nurse's day/wk, as well as other celebratory events.

big difference between yours, and the obligatory, 1x/yr "thanks for all your hard work", followed by a donut and pen.

big difference.

leslie

[showbizrn]

i am basically against all nurses week celebrations. showing thanks and appreciation should be an on going thing not just once a year. it is used too often to appease nurses for the other 52 weeks of abuse.

wowwwwwww!:icon_roll

anyway...

i'm all for entertainment and goodies

so...

good food

live entertainment

and some freebies

makes a worthwhile nurses' week for me!

[NanNurPhyl213]

Nurses must celebrate themselves on a daily basis.

When organizations do not we do so ourselves.

Speak positively about your profession.

Work diligently to become a non-expendable part of your organization.

Help your profession to grow by keeping a visoin in your mind of

what you know nursing should be.

Lastly for the sake of heaven and earth if you are unhappy with

the treatment of your organization please please find

a place where you feel you are treated well and are happy.

You owe this to yourself in the very least.:redpinkhe

[NanNurPhyl213]

On the same note;

In observance of this monumental celebration

Nurse should be reminded of the need to nurture

their young and weaker members.

Student nurses are the origin of the nursing profession.

Please celebrate them by taking one strength you have

and sharing it with a novice nurse or a student nurse.

On this day I challenge you all to squash the myth

that nurses eat their young.

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

The OP asked for ideas for nurses week, not your opinion of nurses week. So lets give her ideas!

OP,

What type of facility do you work at?

I think a goodie bag would be sufficient, it all depends on what your budget is. If your budget allows for bigger and better then go bigger and better. If you work in LTC maybe you could get some willing residents to write a little thank you note and make copies of it to put in the goodie bag.

If you buy a gift for everyone make sure it is a usable gift. One year they gave us a little bag that said nurse on it... That bad was too small to put anything in, so therefore it was pointless. Last year we got lab coats with the hospital emblem on it. That was nice. Two years ago they gave us an umbrella with the hospital emblem on it. It is a nice umbrella and I actually use it.

Tiger

[LACA, BSN, LPN, RN]

Personally, I'm sitting here amazed at some of these responses.

Instead of being thankful for even being recognized, whether it's a logo pen or a stale donut, you all complain and gripe about it??

Whatever happened to just saying thank you?

Maybe I'm just not "getting it", but I would think anything would be better than nothing....Am I the only one that feels this way?

[James Huffman]

Personally, I'm sitting here amazed at some of these responses.

Instead of being thankful for even being recognized, whether it's a logo pen or a stale donut, you all complain and gripe about it??

Whatever happened to just saying thank you?

Maybe I'm just not "getting it", but I would think anything would be better than nothing....Am I the only one that feels this way?

I'm sure you're not the only one who feels this way.

I think there's a divide. You're on one side; I'm on the other.

The point I'm trying to make is that if we -- as a profession -- are thankful for getting a 19 cent logo pen or a stale donut, well, we will continue to get them. And that will be all we'll get.

Sometimes nothing is indeed better than something. We are demeaned professionally by the annual nurses day fest. As I've pointed out before, this is because women -- who obviously dominate nursing -- often want to be "recognized," whereas men would usually just as soon have better pay.

It really, really is about money. Do we want to get paid what we should or do we want trinkets? We won't get both.

[trauma2]

WOW...so many jaded nurses out there. Nurses week is a wonderful time for management to go the extra mile and thank us for what we do on a daily basis. I personally don't need the thanks....I get my "Thank You" every two weeks when I pick up my check...This year we are having local vendors come in and give mini massages, Avon and Mary Kay reps are bringing goodie bags. Beauty salons are giving discount coupons for hair cuts and colors. It just takes a couple phone calls. These vendors where happy to bring us free stuff in exchange for free advertising. I can't wait to celebrate:nurse:

[KJHaggerty LPN]

My area just had a nurses banquet this last friday where they celebrated nurses. I wasn't terribly excited to go, but when I got there it was a ballroom filled with nurses from the local hospitals and other facilities. Something finally dawned on me sitting in a ballroom with 200+ nurses. Nurses Week is not just a designated time for people to recognize us, but also a time that we get to outwardly celebrate ourselves and the profession that we chose. I work my ass of everyshift and damn it, I'm proud of the work I do. This week the nurses that I work with aren't going to wait for someone else to pat us on the back, we're going to celebrate with each other because we're proud of ourselves, each other the the work we chose to dedicate ourselves to.

[trauma2]

Well said KJHaggerty