Does your Hospital do this?

prmenrs, RN · Dec 26, 2005

Ours gave us a free lunch/dinner/midnight snack--the traditional turkey, ham, etc. I'd email the CEO, ask how s/he'd like to work 12 hours, miss out on the fun @ home, and get sandwiches???

I'm sorry, but that's pretty darn lame. Visitors (I think) could get the meal, but had to pay, just like any other day.

Our unit usually had a huge potluck spread on holidays, so most of us skipped the freebie. It was truly an all day graze, too, from breakfast to pie! Even the docs were assigned stuff to bring. Then there was the annual Christmas Eve tableau during night shift, w/a baby selected for the role of Baby Jesus. Since there are usually 3 docs on call, they were the Wise Men. Everyone created a costume, even the Wise Men, of stuff available--a lot of cotton balls on the sheep, sheets swiped from L&D next door, baby blankets as head pieces, the baby scale as the manger. Even those who were not Christian participated. It was very fun!

rn in 3 years · Dec 26, 2005

How stupid! What happened to the 24/7 operation of the hospital? Sick knows no holidays and people have to eat for goodness sake!

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Dec 26, 2005

What, so the minimum wage kitchen staff gets the day off so the nurses who never get good days or hours and the patients families can not eat... :devil: Don't try to play the "but most of them are single mothers" card because nurses have family too. I bet they even got paid vacations. I think if any one has to work in a hospital it should be everyone. And if they complain, then they should ask the nurses how they deal with missing Christmas two nights in a row, and how to explain that to their 8 year old. Where I work you either work Christmas or Thanksgiving, no matter how long other people have been working be for you. I believe in seniority, but for somethings you just have to always share.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Dec 27, 2005

Well i can say our hospital somewhat comes to a standstill during some holidays. It's as if only the medical care continues during holidays. Our x-ray dept was minimally staffed, our discharge dept was off, personel was off today(monday).

But, to the original question, no our cafeteria was open with full hot meals for patient and patrons. They usually give staff their meal free on the holiday and patient trays are delivered to the floor as usual.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 27, 2005

That IS lame. Our hospital typically serves a nicer meal on the holidays.

Diagnosis does NOT take a holiday, neither do the visitors for the pts.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 27, 2005

I agree. Lame.

Our cafeteria served employees a free meal, prime rib or ham with all the trimmings. Plus the grill was open for fried and burgers. It was open to family members.

I get a bit irritated when only nursing and respiratory have to have a full staff on holidays and most other departments are either completely off or have a smaller crew.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Dec 27, 2005

We had a complete meal, free, and very good for once.

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Dec 28, 2005

This is just a general hospital question and I didn't know where to put this...
On Christmas Day, was your hospital cafeteria closed? They did nothing but sandwiches for lunch and dinner, and packaged cereals for breakfast; but totally CLOSED for the staff and patients family members????!!!! AND the only food in town was 1 Waffle House restaurant 2 miles away that ONLY takes cash...I felt SOOOOOO bad for the patients family members, not only haveing to find another place to eat, but having to run to the bank and get cash cause waffle house doesn't take checks/credit...
BTW: today is 12/26, and most of our hospital departments are closed!!! Nuclear Med, CT...only on call for emergencies???
are other hospitals this lame?
linda
griffin, ga:confused:

Mine works the same way. It is totally ridiculous! They do feed us lunch but there is no dinner. The nurses don't need to eat dinner but certainly the family members appreciate being able to get dinner. You tell them the cafeteria is closed and they look at you like you're joking. The Nuc Med, CT, etc are also closed for the holidays. Again ridiculous! Everytime I hear that were a full service 24/7 hospital I have to laugh. If you time your illness right that would be accurate if not you're SOL !

HappyJaxRN · Dec 28, 2005

This is just a general hospital question and I didn't know where to put this...
On Christmas Day, was your hospital cafeteria closed? They did nothing but sandwiches for lunch and dinner, and packaged cereals for breakfast; but totally CLOSED for the staff and patients family members????!!!! AND the only food in town was 1 Waffle House restaurant 2 miles away that ONLY takes cash...I felt SOOOOOO bad for the patients family members, not only haveing to find another place to eat, but having to run to the bank and get cash cause waffle house doesn't take checks/credit...
BTW: today is 12/26, and most of our hospital departments are closed!!! Nuclear Med, CT...only on call for emergencies???
are other hospitals this lame?
linda
griffin, ga:confused:

Yikes. No. The cafeteria was open until normal time and we got a free hot meal for those of us that had to work. Everything was open except for administration, of course. Radiology was available for portable xrays, but anything else like CT, or Nuclear Med, an MD needed to call for it as an emergency. Transplants still took place...in fact I think we did 2 on Christmas Day. Which meant that a lot of departments were up and running...literally.

That kinda stinks....no place for the family members or even staff to eat...snack machines can only provide so much. :uhoh21:

allnurses Guide · Dec 29, 2005

Hmmm, I don't know actually. I don't think our cafeteria is EVER closed for lunch or dinner on ANY given day of the year, but is closed for breakfast on weekends and holidays. Actually it's open, but there are things sitting out like heated sausage and bacon biscuits, bagels, donuts, fruit, and cookies. Coffee is made, the soda machine is on. Payment is by the "honor system", meaning you drop your money into a little jar. =)

DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN · Jan 3, 2006

This is just a general hospital question and I didn't know where to put this...
On Christmas Day, was your hospital cafeteria closed? They did nothing but sandwiches for lunch and dinner, and packaged cereals for breakfast; but totally CLOSED for the staff and patients family members????!!!! AND the only food in town was 1 Waffle House restaurant 2 miles away that ONLY takes cash...I felt SOOOOOO bad for the patients family members, not only haveing to find another place to eat, but having to run to the bank and get cash cause waffle house doesn't take checks/credit...
BTW: today is 12/26, and most of our hospital departments are closed!!! Nuclear Med, CT...only on call for emergencies???
are other hospitals this lame?
linda
griffin, ga:confused:

Worked yesterday 1/1/06 and everything was closed and was again today. I mentioned to one of the doctors "I hope I never get sick on a holiday". He just sort of chuckled. It really is ridiculous. I can see administration, HR, etc.... being off but Nuc Med, CT, Cafe, come on! This is supposed to be 24/7 health care not the post office.