Do Nurses ever receive any recognition?

Yeah, there's a whole week in May dedicated to us.

Our hospital has cards you can submit recognizing any staff member you want. The board where these are displayed is always full. At end of month one card is pulled and staff member gets prize. Otherwise it is just verbal one on one recognition.

I must admit that nurses get a great deal of recognition in hospice...as do the aides.

Public recognition is always flattering...but, for me, it is the opinion of the people I care for that matters more to me.

As a mother, wife, waitress, customer service rep, student, nurse, etc. etc. I never got the recognition I felt I deserved.

I learned to pat myself on the back and congratulate myself on a job well done.

Each of us is our own best cheerleader :)

"Public recognition is always flattering...but, for me, it is the opinion of the people I care for that matters more to me."

Totally agree. I don't even care if my patients send in their customer surveys and recognize me by name. It's more important that I feel good about the care I gave my patients and my interactions with them.

My facility has done away with "Nurse's Day/Week" and I could care less.

Bottom line: if public recognition is important to you, you might be in the wrong profession.

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I think it is also because much of what we do is preventive, and the general public doesn't understand this because the problem(s) which might have happened never occur. For example:

*Your nurse made you get out of bed and ambulate, thus PNA was prevented and you didn't get sicker

*Your nurse turned and repositioned you, and thus your skin remained intact

*Your nurse caught a medication error, and prevented an allergic reaction, overdose, or worse.

*Your nurse, in an assessment, uncovered a new finding and advocated for you and got a MD order to change the course of treatment.

You all know we could go on and on. The point is, when we do the little things that go unnoticed, the BIG issues do not occur. As for the kudos in the local papers, announcing the arrival of a new MD brings in $$. Nursing is still part of the hospital room fee, just like the bed, TV, etc. The closest we get to trumpeting nurses (in the hospital environment) seems to be in reaching Magnet status. But even that, it is a hospital accolade, not really an accolade toward nursing ability. The general public doesn't understand what we do.

Oh, absolutely, it's all about money. Physicians bring in patients whose insurance pays the bills, including our wages. So the hospitals sing their praises and are at their beck and call. When the physicians want something, hospitals bend over backwards to provide it. We regard ourselves as professional clinicians and yes, we do that preventive care that no one ever recognizes. But hospitals consider us as FTE's, or some other type of number, or as a lesser class of employee than the "suits." And while physicians' attitudes have improved remarkably over the past 40 years, there are still those who regard us as ignorant, and as servants or housekeepers. I agree, our recognition has to come from within. Better yet, why not from each other? Instead of each shift criticizing the previous one, why don't we support each other by saying things like "you've worked hard all day (or night); don't worry, go on home and get some rest. I'll take care of that (lab work, MD order, mess to clean up, etc.). We should take compassionate care of each other, as we do our patients. Pass around the kudos, smiles and shoulder rubs. You work harder than any physician.

I read in my local newspapers all the time about how so and so hospital welcomes Dr. whatever, how he graduated from who cares, talks about wife and family and how he is taking new patients. I dont mean to sound rude, but what about the nurses? Im still in school ive done several clinicals and have only come across one nice doctor. Ive worked 12 hour days and the doctor may be lucky to spend 15 minutes with his patient vs me being there 12 hours. The doctor may diagnose, but its the nurse who treats the patient, catches the doctor's mistakes espcially medication related, who is there when the patient is in need. We basically do all the work, why does the doctor get all the credit? Do nurses ever get recognized?

yeah, but that's not recognition.....that's advertising.

They're saying there's a new Doc in town, so that he/she can build up their practice. The press release from the hospital is a win/win for the Doc and the hospital as both want to have the Doc's practice grow (the more patients the Doc has, the more business they will likely send to the hospital).

Recognition in a newspaper is like an award or something. Just saying that they're here...sheer advertising.

You'll find in nursing to take the small pats on the back that you do get. You learn to take those small victories and make them last....otherwise this career can suck your soul out of you (if you let it).

The facility I work at advertises its doctors, and also puts up pictures of staff members with patient quotes about how grateful they are for the care they received.

When I was hired, I was asked how I preferred to be recognized for going above and beyond. They had options like, "announced in hospital-wide email, announced at department meeting, and congratulated by supervisor privately." "I'll take my thanks in the form of a check" was not an option.

I guess it depends on what you call recognition. A highly reputed organisation whose name I can't remember does an annual survey and publishes the results nationally. The question is what profession do you trust most, and year after year Nurses are the most trusted. To me, that's a lot more rewarding than an ad in the paper that some doc got a job.

Paul Harvey did an excellant essay on the radio about 10 years ago crediting nurses to no end. No matter how I try I can't get a copy of it. I do remember him saying that when you hear on the radio that "doctors are fighting to save the life of someone" the doctor is probably on the ninth fairway while nurses are at the bedside doing his work for him.

The warm fuzzies are out there, but hard to find like you said. Just as a nurse is different from a doctor, thankfully, the rewards are different too.