Nurse's Week. Whadya get?

Bell · May 16, 2000

We had a nice dinner (chicken alfredo, veggies, rolls and chocolate cake) and a no host bar. It cost $7.50 per person in order to cover costs if no one showed. When there were more than enough people registered they bought flowers for each table and held a free raffle. I live in a small town and there were nurses there from the surrounding hospitals (Idaho and Washington). Our directors, supervisors, and nursing service director was there. There was a display of the nurses from the hospital.

tntrn, ASN, RN · May 17, 2000

You mean nurses get presents for nurses' week?

NurseMom · May 17, 2000

We got a rose and baby's breath corsage plus a heart pinlast Friday. I had no idea it was Nurse's Week until I got a card in the mail from my Mom the day before!

By the way, you guys are all too funny! You make me laugh my a** off after a hard day!

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Laurie :)

so many patients...

so little time.....

Heather27 · May 17, 2000

Nurses' Week?? It was Nurses' Week?? What the....?? I guess my administrators didn't get that memo...

mcrow · May 17, 2000

Our Doctors, not admin, had lunch catered in, chicken and such, and the nurse admin. served and provided cakes. It was pretty nice. On our unit the clerks and our pediatricians bought us lunch the day before and smelly-good bath stuff. Our unit staff are the oasis for me, and I appreciate them all.

Magicat · May 18, 2000

Tues: We had a "fashion show", on how to dress properly and professionally for work (featuring scrub uniforms from my store), a workshop on stretching and preventing injuries.

Thurs: a luncheon (watercress salad, pasta salad, and tuna salad, with cheesecake and caramel apple pie for dessert - I am on a low fat low cholesterol diet!!!), followed by foot, shoulder, or all over massages...provided you had all day to wait!

Then there were door prizes at the luncheon (I won a Wyeth canvas bag) and you were given little buckets with flower seeds, a loufa, an aroma therapy candle, and silken serenity body lotion (women), massage soap and loufa (men).

Then on Friday there was a CEU on stress and burnout and how to prevent these.

So I don't know how that rates in comparison.

Much better than they did last year. Canvas bags with facility name and logo, that shrank to near nothing when washed.

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Jubilee Nurse · May 18, 2000

I know i'm late to this discussion...I decided a long time ago that we can't wait for someone else to celebrate for us....we need to celebrate ourselves..and do it all year long. Nurses week is just a little bit extra. Our hospital didn't do anything and I knew they wouldn't ...so i did it myself. Every day , I sent out a message over our computers that was specific to nurses and reminding us of how special we are. I started "collecting" items for raffles a few months ago. Many nurses are crafty or own businesses and are willing to donate itmes for the raffle...doesn't have to be much. I Springtime is the time of year you get free gifts with purchase from cosmetic companies..you usually don't like all the items so i collect unsused samples and make up spa baskets. One nurse donated 2 homemeade cheesecakes...i have a paraffin hand wax machine so i donated a "spa" evening for pampering hands. Simple things but i ended up with 20 raffle items - even got people to give me baskets to make them up. 20 gifts for 400 nurses doesn't sound like a lot but i truly believe it was the atmosphere we created. I heard more nurses wishing EACH OTHER a happy nurses week than ever before. We don't wait for others to recognize....do it ourselves

pollyanna · May 18, 2000

Sorry I'm late to post. For nurses week the nurses at our hospital got to bring in pictures of ourselves as babies and they posted them for a guess the nurse contest for the hospital to play. No one said Happy Nurses week! The one day out of the year when management should at least say thank you for all you do went by at our hospital without one thank you

cfnp2b · May 18, 2000

I think I can top them all --- Because we received nothing for Nurses' Day last year, three nurses in our department spent four weeks calling area businesses and asking for donations. After all calls were made and donations collected, we had 150 prizes including new stethoscopes, spa passes and the like. Our Department Manager insisted that we donate 50% of the prizes to the "hospital" for promoting Nurses' Day throughout the hospital. She then "selected" the gifts/prizes that would be donated to the "hospital". How's that for a wonderful Nurses' Day?

nursebeady · May 19, 2000

Late posting but on the money. Some things never change.

inhock · May 20, 2000

Well, it always has bothered me that we have to do it all for ourselves, and this year I was determined to boycott whatever we had, but, one of our nurse managers had worked herself half-silly trying to bring the nurses' day to fruition.

We have a gang of guys who works in Engineering and they do outdoor grilling to perfection--what a great bunch of fellas. They call themselves the Roadkill Gang. Anyway, the nurses had several fund raisers during the year and bought ribeyes, baking potatoes, and salad fixin's with the money that they made. The nurse managers cooked the potatoes, made the salad, and the guys grilled the steaks outside on hospital grounds. All nurses were invited to come eat during a two-hour period for the noon meal (not a 2 hour lunch, but in shifts). The same meal was packed up for the evening and night shifts.

Then the chief nurse handed out large bags with the medical center logo on them to all the nurses.

It was very nice--there have been bigger years, but that was a long time ago. The doctors even used to participate--all a thing of the past.

All in all, I think it was a successful nurses' day, one of comaradarie and not of ripping eachother apart. I guess that it is more important that we recognize our worth, 'cause it's a foregone conclusion that no one else will. They might even have to pay staff nurses more if they recognized their worth!!

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maryellen

emhkirkpatrick · May 20, 2000

The critical care nurses got a nice set of calipers--I don't know what any othr depatment got. Te hospital gave an ice cream social from 2-4 for nurses only I didn't have time to go to cafeteria but a coworked brought me a loaded sundae. Off shift were brought an ice cream novelty...not quite the leash i got from my employer a few years ago...you know those little pull out things you can pin to your uniform and attach your name badge to them. But a little nicer gift this here than last...but no big banner this year like last year at the hospitla entrance. I did have patients and families wish me a happy nurses week that was sort of nice.