Do Nurses ever receive any recognition?

[angmcav]

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?

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

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.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

I think you have to think about 'why' they are doing those 'recognitions' they are marketing those services. We as a nurses aren't selected as caregivers ... Its more a luck of a draw...drs on the other hand are selected. My friend is a physician assistant and they did the same thing for him....but its because he started with zero patients not because they are soooo glad he is there

[Manatee111]

On one paticularly horrible day on the job when I was at my wits ends thinking about this very type of thing my husband & I went to get our taxes done at a popular tax service. After finding out my occupation the lady preparing our taxes couldn't express enough how gratefulshe was for the job nurses do. Her mother had passed away a few months before. She died while on hospice after fighting breast cancer that had metastisized through various organs. She & I both were teary eyed... her for the loss of her mom & me because it was a stranger thanking me. I'd didn't knw her or her mom, but she just needed to express thanks to nurses as a whole for the job we do everyday.

Nurses don't get recognized enough, not by our managers, not by our pers, certainly not by doctors & sometimes not even by our patients, but sometimes it is a random person who thanks us not for our individual action, but for our profession as a whole.

[RNforLongTime]

No we don't get the recognition we deserve.

I saved a anestesiologist from choking to death in the middle of the ICU one day while at work!! Successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver on him. BARELY got a thank you from him let alone my name in the hospital newsletter. Was shown NO gratitude whatsoever! The hospital "thanked' me a few months later by firing me. Nice, huh?

[Bubbles]

My hospice employer had cards we could fill out to recognize when someone did something really nice. We could recognize anyone on staff - nurses, CNAs, chaplains, receptionist, etc. Once a month our Administrator read them and gave each of us the card. Come to think of it this was the only employer who did this. Once I was selected as Employee of the Month by my peers, but I was not actually working as a nurse in this position.

[akRN68]

I think that a lot of nurses are overlooked and/or ignored by those who shouldn't but I also feel that most nurse are nurses for their own satisfaction. Yes, I enjoy helping others. I love being at the bedside and making a difference but what makes me happy is the satisfaction of knowing I repositioned, or cleaned them, or made certain their meds were correct...the list goes on and on as you know. I guess the biggest part of thank you comes from within myself to myself.

I think many people don't relize what all we do and/or why we do it. That is ok with me honestly. The very BEST thank you I've ever gotten from a family/patient was the family commenting to me that they felt very comfortable with a dying loved one because I had taught them over the last months what to expect and the changes were not scary for them. That totally made my day, week, month and year. They never came right out and said "thank you" but during those last days watching them with their loved one was enough to make me feel satisified and fulfilled. How humbling and I am so very grateful.

No worries about formal thank you(s) but wanted to share that the thank you(s) come from within and in many different ways.

Cheers

AK

[lkwashington]

We have a nurse week in the month of May at the facility I work.

[MinnieMomRN]

I know that we get thanks in various forms from patients, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no, that isn't enough. It's , not that I need that positive reinforcement to feel good about myself. Heck, if that were the case, I would have become a rock star -- you know other than my age, and the fact that I can't carry a tune, nothing could stop me!!

But here's another way of thinking about it: When we tip our white cap and say "Really, no thanks needed M'am. Just doin' my job", as we ride off into the sunset what message are we really conveying? We belittle nursing functions, and our roles as healthcare providers. Thank yous are wonderful. But REAL recognition for the role we play in patient outcome?? Priceless.

So yes, I want nursing recognized -- for ALL of us.

[Zookeeper3]

We have a "kudos", were we can simply nominate each other and get either a meal ticket or movie ticket... unfortunately I forget... because WE forget to take care of each other at times. There are many awards given out in my facility... and until recently we haven't even bothered to jot each others greatness down on an email.

So forget those crazy family members... we need to do more for each other first.

JMHO.... I'm working on changing me... it's a start.

[Zookeeper3]

Without going into detail, I received two awards last month that were incredible that others spent the time to "appreciate me" formally, instead of our usual, "thanks so much".

To some it's a worthless piece of paper, and I argue that, it really meant so much, and has gotten my attitude to change to spend the time and even shoot the manager an e-mail about a peer going out of their way. How else will they know.

[llg, PhD, RN]

For the record ... the Magnet Program is trying to increase the recognition of nurses for our contributions ... but those efforts are only as good as the individual employers and individual people choose to make it.

[Cul2]

I've noticed hospital television ads from around the country when I travel. It's

almost always focused on first person accounts, people whose lives have been

saved, with the focus on a particular doctor. Although the word "team" is

mentioned, nurses are never mentioned specifically. Here's a suggestion: If

your hospital runs ads like this, get your nursing association to intervene

and strongly suggest, or negotiate, to have the life-saving work of nurses

included in these ads. Perhaps one ad could be just for the work nurses do.

People need to be reminded how fundamental to life-saving the everyday

work of nurses is.