Nurses week Cheap gifts from admin.

Nurses General Nursing

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So, with nurses week coming up, I was fondly remembering all the neat swag my employer has offered me as a token of their appreciation.

Over the last four years as a nurse I have received -

A calculator that broke in one week,

A fanny pack that was made out of sheet plastic,

A coupon for a free cookie from the cafeteria,

Shoelaces with the hospital logo,

A lunch bag made out of the same sheet plastic as the fanny pack,

And the only gift that was ever usefull, a badge holder like the drug reps give out where your badge is on a string with a spring.

so what kind of gifts does your institution pony up for?

There have to be some worse ones than mine.

We all know that a cheap trinket from our employer will ensure our future longevity with said institution. So what made you stay working where you are.

AT THE VERY LEAST, PAID TIME OFF!!! JUST ONE MEASLY DAY WOULD BE APPRECIATED. AND I ALSO AM GETTING TIRED OF NURSES DAY BECOMING "HOSP.WORKERS DAY", IF THAT IS ALL THEY THINK OF US, THAT WE ARE AS EASILY REPLACED AS ANYONE ELSE IN THE BUILDING, THEN WE ALL NEED TO MOVE ON AND SHOW THEM. I SAY LETS ALL WORK FOR AGENCYS, TRUST ME ITS THE SAME OLE CRAP, AT A M*U*C*H HIGHER PAY RATE! WE MIGHT AS WELL GO WHERE THE MONEY IS! OK, NOW I FEEL BETTER:):):):)

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hey i know what you mean i work at a hospital in richmond virginia and usually for the past 6 years that i have been there we have gotten really cool gifts for nurses week or at least i thought we had. any way the most embarrassing thing was this year my floor hosted nurses week and my manager decided that our gift for the entire hospital should be a mug with prayers and devotionals and a green tea bag.

now although i may enjoy prayers and devotionals, we should not assume that everyone in the entire hospital is religious. it just was not politically correct b/c i myself know several athiests that work on our floor so i know there must be more in the entire hospital. everyone has been talking about our floor like dogs and i just feel that this was the worst hospital gift ever!!!!

ingrid lpn-b :(

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I am from Albuquerque and I think I work at the same place as Nilepoc. By the way, my cat loved the shoe strings..........

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Thanks Agnus and right back at ya....I'll let you know what 'they' are planning for our 'staff appreciation day'.

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Hi all ! During "Administrative Professionals" week, "Housekeeping/Maintanance" days, "Social Worker" day, "Receptionaist" day, etc... thses disciplines @ my facility got Gift Baskets filled to the rim with Top-Shelf goodies. Guess what the nurses got last week ? We each got a bag of 5 cookies with a 2 & 1/2 inch pen light tied in a ribbon to the bag. Classy, huh ? Makes you feel REALLY appreciated when everyone else gets wine & cheese...:(

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All i got was the fanny pack this year!!!!:o

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As a Nurses Week committee member, we sold pizza gift certificates to raise money to give out prizes at our hospital. Administration "did not have money in the budget for such things". We also collected donations from the community. There was a grand prize trip to Fenwick Island and over 100 other gifts given out randomly. We (the committee) planned a rededication day, recognition day, pharmacy vendor fair, and a birthday party for Florence Nightingale. It turned out great, no thanks to Admin.:chuckle

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We used to have nurses "week" - we are now down to nurses "day", but at least they do something for the four major shifts.... one year we got a large lollipop.... we figured they were trying to tell us we were "suckers" ............

this year.... a cup....... and we budget for $10 per nurse for nurses day.. i guess the rest of the money was spent on the icecream social, and the breakfast or lunch.

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Specializes in Hospice and palliative care.

Although I haven't formally worked a shift in a week or so, I stopped by last night to check my schedule and one of my friends told me that our nurses' week gift was a towel. Whoopee!! I can hardly wait to tell my manager, "No, you can keep your towel, I have plenty of other towels at home, thank you." I'll have to restrain myself from telling him to shove the towel where the sun don't shine! :p

Laurie

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Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

Well, there were no gifts and, as I am artistic, I did volunteer to do the poster for display in the main corridor because I was certain if the nurse manager did it we would either all be embarrassed or arrested. She said great. I buy the supplies. She emails me to tell me never mind, she thinks she has a handle on it and will do a better, more nurse oriented job. I laugh but think, ok, that gives me more time for other things like, oh, I don't know, arts and crafts with my kids..Since I do caligraphy, they do toss me a token consisting of a scrap booking paper picture of the American Flag, on which I have been directed to jot the unit name and current year...In the morning, after a horrific night with a 34 weeker abrupting and all the resulting chaos-a night, by the way, when I decided to wear my cheapo, hot pink warm up jacket with little dogs and the words "Puppy love", along comes our delightful nurse manager snapping photos of "her" nurses. I try, to no avail, to dodge the camera but she insists the hot pink will make a great contrast...Yep, I am right there up on the poster with the night crew...No gifts and this year, no dignity either....

Sigh......

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Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

Shoot, I did forget to mention that this year there was a little meeting to appreciate nurses we have lost. Nice idea and they even went so far as to plant a tree-in a spot where the other one died so a spot opened up (sort of like the way we get from one position to another)...Noticed the tree is crooked and looks kind of sick....There are no words.....Sigh again.....Should I be petty and not fork over money that gets coralled for the nurse manager Christmas gifts? Not feeling overly in to it....

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OK, another viewpoint on all of this please. I have been a nurse for over 25 years, and have seen nurses appreciation has changed a lot! We never used to get anything, but now our hospital honors nurses for one week. Everyday there is something for the nurses. A luncheon, a gift day, a cookie day, etc. There are a lot of nurses who are NEVER satisfied with what they recieve, and I am sorry to say, I hear the same ungrateful message coming through loud and clear in this thread! I have to say that most of the nurses I work with, and the majority of those venting here, do not seem to appreciate anything that administration does for them. The nursing week celebration in our 700+ bed, 1200+ nurse hospital costs a lot when you multiply all they do for each nurse. A "cheap" lunch box costs over 3 dollars, the luncheon and the cookies are costs also. Our hospital makes sure that all shifts are included on the day of the luncheon. If you are off, you can come in to participate. If you chose not to, then don't complain! My suggestion to all of you who are not happy with your nurses day celebrations: get involved! Let someone know that you would like to help plan the nurses day celebration. Too many people chose to react rather than act! Sory to sound so defensive, but I am sooooooo tired of hearing nurses in my own hospital sit around and ***** about things instead of trying to change things for the better, be it nurses day celebrations, staffing, schedules, etc. Thanks for letting me vent and remember...don't react...act!

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