We started a cool thing at work- every hour, on the hour, we meet and do 25 pushups. It is a fun way to bond and only takes a second. I have no problem working in the estrogen fest, but it is nice to occasionally connect with our inner caveman. Obviously we can't all be there every hour due to workload but we make it most hours.
Of course, one of the charge nurses blew a fuse. I haven't been back to work yet to hear all the details, but I gather she felt it is "not appropriate" for the workplace. (I work in ICU, we would meet at the far end of the unit where there were no patients or family, but can still hear and see the monitors, it's only seconds from our work stations.) Isn't health and exercise promotion a nursing value? Isn't being fit and strong a good example for our peers and patients? Doesn't having fun at work create a better work environment? I understand that doing pushups doesn't fit into the nursing paradigm she learned when she was in Florence Nightingale's first nursing class, but come on!
It was funny to see how confused the other nurses were. "Why would you do pushups?" they asked. How can we be so misunderstood?! lol (We've invited the girls but no takers so far). We also spice it up with the occasional Chuck Norris joke- my fav- When Chuck Norris does pushups he isn't pushing himself up, he's pushing the Earth down. Anyway, this is a call for you to do the same my manly brothers!
