Published
This happened last night, a pt. requested that they wantedto see her nurse before the nurse went home at the end of her shift. So the nurse is concerned wondering "did i forget anything" and goes back over her charting, MARs, outloud going over everything she'd done that evening, then when the end of her shift came, she went in there and said "Yes ma'am?". The pt. said "i thought you needed to know that i have been in and out of this hospital lately, and have met a lot of nurses, but you have been the nicest one i've ever met, you've thought of everything all evening, and i wanted to tell you keep up the good work, you're doing an excellent job." I swear that nurse was able to float down the hall, she felt so good hearing that.
Thanks, you guys! I wasn't intending to toot my own horn, but it feels soooo good to know that my efforts are appreciated by the people who really count---my patients. Our nurse-manager NEVER praises, only criticizes.......the quality of our performance is generally measured by the number of "nasty-grams" we get in our mailboxes......if a week or a month goes by without any of these little gems, we know we're doing a good job. Some of the house supervisors are better at giving pats on the back, but I'm still glad my ego doesn't require frequent strokes from management (as it did when I was younger and less experienced), or I'd be in sorry shape. As it is, I know I'm doing OK when a patient says "Thank you for taking such good care of me" or another nurse says "Oh good, Marla's here!" when I step off the elevator.:)
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
A neat thing happened at work last night......the unit secretary was reading the newsletter put out by our hospital's parent organization, and said "Hey, look, you're in the paper!" I thought she was kidding, but sure enough, there was my name and a little blurb about how "cheerful" and "positive" patients thought I was. I didn't know it, but the hospital had some independent professional company conduct a survey, and kudos were given to staff members, although I was one of only two who were mentioned by name. Didn't hurt my feelings a bit.
And it couldn't come at a better time.......my six-month performance review is due any day now.
Just had to share that with you all. God knows the rewards in our profession are often few and far between, but when they do come, they sure make up for all the crap we put up with!