Fundraising idea

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 21, 2003

That's a great idea! Here's another one (may need some work, could possibly be incorporated into the other idea). I remember reading about a contest held every year for waiters- in New York I think? They have to show their skill, ie, balancing tall trays, overloaded trays, quick tablesetting, etc. in a sort of multi-part race to see who is the fastest and most competent waiter. Why not take this idea and change it to apply to nursing. Do a multi-event thing where you include your race and other "contests" to determine the "best" nurse. for instance, design a large obstacle course, and have teams of two sign up to run it (best time wins)- you could have one as the patient ina wheelchair and the other has to push them through/around obstacles. You could make this really funny and have, say, a group of participants as a patient's family and in the middle of the course they could jump out and surround the team members, yelling questions, etc. and they have to maneuver around them. You could also incorporate a sort of scavenger hunt, where, along the way, they have to pick up items needed to "save" the patient (ambu bag, ekg leads, etc.). Ever seen "Truth or dare?" on Nickelodeon? The teams had to dig in wierd vats of stuff to pull the needed items out (in the shows case, they were orange flags) and race them to the finish line before the buzzer rang. The vats were filled with whipped cream, or goop, or mud, or whatever. You could get a bunch of EKG leads and tangle them up in a big knot, and they have to pull out three (for a 3-lead). You could have a big container of blank keys, and some of them are labeled with little stickers on one side, and they could be the "narcotic keys" that have to be found before moving on. Things like that. I'm sure you could make it, like, a pretty decent event- heck, you could even get press coverage for the event. The news channels love that community spirit kind of thing, and the teams that participate could get sponsors or pay an entry fee to play. You could have sort of a fair, also, where they have games of skill involved, like a Jeopardy type nursing knowledge game, etc. The more games and trials the teams participate in, the more points they rack up, and at the end of the day (half day? whole day?) or the end of the contests the team or person with the most points won wins the title and some sort of prize (you could get corporate sponsors to donate some stuff). You could get local sports figures (football players?) to volunteer as celebrity participants, and have a contest where the teams have to attempt to restrain an unruly patient (the celebrity) using either their wits, wiles, or actual restraints to pin them down. The craftier you are, the quicker you win. Things like that. If you don't want to do it that big (ie, make it a public event), you could do it smaller and have it just be within your hospital, or have a challenge between your ward and another ward, or your ward and the doctors. Just some thoughts, there. :>)

jemb · Apr 21, 2003

Crash cart races sound fun. I also like Kristi's idea of expanding it to include other things.

We had wheelchair races a couple of years ago. We "used" administrators as patients just to add some pizzazz to the event.

It was hilarious!

OrthoNutter · Apr 24, 2003

Hmmm.....the hospital olympics sounds like a great idea. I'd have to do a lot of costing.....not to mention finding out if dousing ECG leads in green globby goop would render them useless. Could make a whole day out of it....kind of like the swimming carnival only much more fun.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 24, 2003

Several cities have hospital bed races--team sign up and decorate hospital beds then race them down a city street!