Nurses~

[GitanoRN]

obviously, i would love to hear what your facility is doing to honor nurses week. my budget this year is approximately $600.00 however, i have involved subway restaurant, domino s pizza, and vegan/vegetarian restaurant, to donate meals for all shifts including the weekend. in addition, i involved also a nursing scrub store to come to the hospital and bring their latest merchandise since they are having their grand opening, within the activities during our week they will put on a fashion show, plus every hour on the hour they will donate a full set of white-scrubs to one lucky nurse. moreover, i contacted one of the largest dept. store here and they will donate 20 ipads which will be raffled, including a one 40" emerson lcd t.v. with a blue ray component. btw, the nurses won't have to pay anything for the raffle just add their name to the raffle tickets. furthermore, i have included a well known on-line travel company which will donate a 6 night with a companion to a all-inclusive caribbean vacation to a lucky winner. having said that, every year we select the nurse of the year, which receives a one year privileged parking space, a dinner voucher for two plus a complete one day spa indulgent. lastly, on the last day of nurses week we honor florence nightingale birthday by coming to work in our traditional "white uniform" which one lucky nurse will receive a $100.00 gift certificate to a major clothing store, for the most authentic traditional white uniform ensemble, as we celebrate with a traditional luau party lunch . wishing all of the members, and the staff of all-nurses.com the best always... let the celebrations begin.... mahalo & aloha~

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

Gitano, would you mind sharing more of how you did this? Did you cold-call vendors and just ask? Did you just decide to plan all this stuff, or are you on a committee, or is it somehow related to your job duties? You are amazing, by the way!

[LindaB73]

First shift gets lunch. Second and third - nada. We are lazy and worthless

[Wave Watcher]

I got pink eye for nurses week.

So, apparently the little student that was complaining of her eye being itchy with no redness, whom I decided to send back to class with a smile on my face.....gave it to me.

Karma. That's what's for breakfast this morning.

Kudos to you for putting so much effort into your facility!! You my friend.....ROCK!

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

We no longer have Nurses Week at my place. Now it's Hospital Week. I can't resist an eye roll when I think the words Hospital Week.

They're serving BBQ lunch to day shift, along with 5 minute massages and manicures. Night shift...not so much. I think the plan is to deliver sandwiches to us on the unit.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

We don't get "thanks". The leaders at our hospital think nurses' week should be about promoting the professionism of nursing.

So we get speakers in that we can attend on our lunch break - they will provide coffee and cookies but not lunch. They also will not bring in extra staff so that we can get off the floor to attend these speakers!

One day they will have free coffee break.

They do deliver pizza to the evening and night staff on one night.

But no presents, no thank yous, no ads in the paper that say thank you (other hospitals do this).

At the Christmas party they gave out "goodie bags" that included a request for money to the new expansion! (Merry Christmas- give us some money!)

[amoLucia]

First shift gets lunch. Second and third - nada. We are lazy and worthless

And we're supposed to be appreciative when stuff for 11-7 has been left out unrefrigerated and picked over (sometimes with pickings visible) WHEN stuff has been left. I'll pass, thank you! There's something very unappealing about grilled, shriveled hotdogs that need to be nuked. Just one of my pet peeves, sorry!

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

They have blended hospital week with nurses week, so we don't get our own week. However, they are feeding us well one of the days. I work, so free grub for me, lol. Nights will get a nice breakfast in the morning, I think..

Our managers aren't doing anything for us, but they gave 2 nurses money to buy some small goodies. It will be interesting to see what we get. The boxes are 5x5...maybe...so it's not going to be a lot!

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

The greatest gift I have ever gotten for Nurses Week was a 20 minute massage. A massage therapist came up to our unit with massage chair in tow, and let me tell ya, folks...it was HEAVENLY!

This year, our hospital has all kinds of luncheons, mini-seminars, speakers and socials. However, all of these events occur in an auditorium during hours that most nurses can't attend. Most of our nurse managers and administrative staff attend because they have flexibility in their schedules. We as staff nurses hear all about how wonderful the speakers are, how tasty the luncheon was, and how nicely the events were planned.

What bothers me most is when our senior nurse leaders spout on and on about these events and say, "You should really make it a point to go." Then the staff nurse says, "Well, can you cover my shift so I can go?" More times than not, the nurse leader/manager suddenly has something very important to do and 'hopes you can get someone to cover'.

I applaud facilities that take the time and invest money into celebrating Nurses Week. It would be even better if the mini-seminars, luncheons and speakers could rotate through units so that EVERY nurse can enjoy and celebrate Nurses Week.

To the nurse managers that cover staff members so that they can enjoy these celebrations-HATS OFF TO YOU! It means a great deal to staff nurses to be recognized for all of their hard work. It means even more if they can participate.