Gifts for clinical instructors?

Nursing Students General Students

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My school splits our semesters in half. We just finished our first half and three of the instructors are moving on to different courses for the second half. I'm in one of the groups with an instructor that is moving on. Another group purchased a $150 gift certificate for their instructor. We went to lunch with our instructor yesterday but did not give her a gift. I wrote her out a thank you card but it turns out I was the only one that did. Now my group wants to get her a gift. Most of the group thinks it a good idea but a few of us don't. It seems inappropriate to spend that much on a gift for an instructor knowing we will have that instructor again in a year. I purposely waited to give her my thank you card until after my evaluation so it didn't look like I was trying to kiss butt or influence my eval. I understand giving a gift to say we appreciate the your time and support but I think $150 is too much for a 9 week class. What do guys think?

$150 is waaaaaaaaaaay too much. Usually, $30 to $50 is appropriate for a group of 6 to 10 people. If you do want to splurge on him/her and don't want to give things that may add to their clutter you can always give a gift certificate for a spa service (think massage!) which would be about $60. I know nurses love massages!

One of my instructors loved to bake and eat chocolate sweets so we got her a chocolate dessert cookbook and in it (on the blank pages at the back) we hand wrote each of our favorite sweet recipes (grandma's chocolate fudge for me!) and then bought a few decadent truffles to put on top of the wrapped book. The final cost was about $45 and she loved it!

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$150...Holy Cow!!!! That is a lot. I think going out to lunch, giving a card, and maybe a small pratical gift is very appropriate. Maybe you could get her one of those really nice day planners and by next years refills. I noticed a lot of stores are getting next years refills. Or something along that line.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Am I the only one who thinks that giving gifts to one's instructors is inappropriate? I am surprised that so many nursing schools allow it! Most of our instructors met with us for lunch or dinner at the conclusion of the semester, and we usually provided a gift of food or a plant to the nurses on the unit to which we were assigned. But giving gifts (especially expensive ones) to instructors responsible for evaluating students' performance seems highly improper!

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Specializes in Operating Room.

No, I totally agree, but I've been known to give gifts to my instructors while growing up, and I send gifts to my children's teachers. Really, it's not much difference.

I do think for college, though, it should be AFTER your final grades have been posted. :)

I definitely wouldn't want anyone saying I bought my grades, or tried to bribe for better grades.

Am I the only one who thinks that giving gifts to one's instructors is inappropriate? I am surprised that so many nursing schools allow it! Most of our instructors met with us for lunch or dinner at the conclusion of the semester, and we usually provided a gift of food or a plant to the nurses on the unit to which we were assigned. But giving gifts (especially expensive ones) to instructors responsible for evaluating students' performance seems highly improper!
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Specializes in Hospice, Internal Medicine.

Thanks for all the responses! I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought it was inappropriate. I think our group has settled on a massage certificate for around $50. I'll find out on Monday how it went with the other group. I'm not even sure the instructor would accept a gift of $150.

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In my school, our semester is split in half as well. There are 10 of us in our clinical group, so we all chipped in 5 dollars and gave her a gift certificate to a restaurant she liked to eat at. We also gave her a card with specific thank you's. We did this after our clinical evaluations. Personally, if it's something small I don't see it as being inappropriate. However, it isn't something that should be mandatory as well.

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Specializes in OB.

Between paying tuition, buying books and living on a student budget, what student really has money to shell out for gifts to the teacher and gifts (usually a card and donughts for every hall after every rotation) to the nurses for helping them get through clinical rotations?? :confused:

It's good to be appreciative and grateful, but what ever happened to just a simple "Thank You"? Instructors get gifts every year/semester from their students... probably even the same kinds of gifts. They are probably more grateful that their students didn't wind up seriously injuring a patient! And although, us nurses are grateful for the box of donughts, we probably don't really need to be eating them! :p

I remember going through this delemma when I was in school. How much do we contribute? How much do we spend? What do we get for everyone? :o

My suggestion? A verbal thank you to each of your instructors from each of you would probably suffice. To make it even more personal, add a homemade card with a group photo included. If you all still insist on purchasing a thank you gift, collect a couple of bucks from everyone and buy your instructor a gift certificate in a reasonable amount to her favorite restaurant. Or you could just all go out to eat together for an end of the semester party and have a good time. When the bill comes, pitch in for her meal. And for the nurses... something low cal please! :D

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With money being so tight, in school, a gift basket (it dosen't even need to eb a basket, we used a fancy looking box, it think it had flowers in it before) is really the way to go. I had one around the house from a previous Christmas that wasen't being used and found some tissue paper and stuffed newspaper in the bottom, and each student brought what she/he could afford. Some of us were able to afford gourmet coffee or something a little more expensive (but not more then about $10 each I think, it all depended on what you could afford) other girls could not afford that much. One girl brought in a couple of chocolate bars, but at least she contributed.

Just one of my favorite ideas when it comes to having to buy stuff on a budget, in a group

Kristen

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

Just a suggestion: shop after the holidays for special things like Godiva chocolates, etc at a reduced price. Make sure there's nothing "holiday" on the package. I picked up some Godiva in gold boxes with a red ribbon after Christmas that were *perfect* for Valentines Day.

Oh, and I never buy "nursey" tchotchkes....I figure the instructors already have enough coffee mugs, stethoscope name tags, etc.:rotfl:

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the only gift I can remember any of my clinical groups giving an instructor, besides cards and last-day snacks for everyone, was a pin. One of the other students picked up an inexpensive (I think it was $7) angel pin in the hospital giftshop and we included it in the card. She loved it, and actually wore it from time to time (she also did some lectures) .

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I am speaking as a clinical instructor and really "thank-you" note is really nice. Monetary gift I would not accept at all. I would advise them to keep that money and spend it on themselves after exams. Go out and have some cheer and friendship.

That is my opinion.

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Way too much and not at all personal. I pitched in a few bucks around graduation for a basket of goodies for all of our instructors but was it. I gave two of my instuctors a suprise a few years latter buy just showing up at thier office w/ flowers and that was so much more appreciated and remembered.

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