Nurses week Cheap gifts from admin.

[nilepoc]

So, with nurses week coming up, I was fondly remembering all the neat swag my employer has offered me as a token of their appreciation.

Over the last four years as a nurse I have received -

A calculator that broke in one week,

A fanny pack that was made out of sheet plastic,

A coupon for a free cookie from the cafeteria,

Shoelaces with the hospital logo,

A lunch bag made out of the same sheet plastic as the fanny pack,

And the only gift that was ever usefull, a badge holder like the drug reps give out where your badge is on a string with a spring.

so what kind of gifts does your institution pony up for?

There have to be some worse ones than mine.

We all know that a cheap trinket from our employer will ensure our future longevity with said institution. So what made you stay working where you are.

[bandaidexpert, BSN, RN]

I guess I have it good, but, I work for a wonderful facility. This year we are having a "Surf & Turf dinner at a very expensive hotel and we get a $150 gift certificate to the local mall. I do feel appreciated.

[Jenny P]

There is sure a lot of anger and hard feelings here in these postings.

I agree that I want to be appreciated as an individual by management; a simple "thank you for doing ______" would make me feel great. Packs of thank you cards aren't that expensive; but it would take TIME and effort to do. In my hospital we have somewhere between 1500 and 2000 nurses; IT WON'T HAPPEN HERE! Not for this year. But it could be done throughout the year as good things happen; wouldn't take nearly so much effort that way. We've had both good and cheesy gifts at my hospital; and I know it's hard to stick to a budget.

A nice thing that we have now is scholarships and recognition funds set aside (funded by a former VP of Nursing) for outstanding nurses. The exceptional nurses could get recognized for their efforts-- IF their co-workers take the time to fill out the forms! However, there are too many staff nurses who are too tired or too busy or simply don't give a rip to nominate their mentors and peers.

Something that has bothered me for years is the notion that once (or because) a nurse leaves a bedside staff position; she is suddenly "the bad guy" and is thought to only watch the bottom line. Somehow, there is this the fallacy that when a nurse moves out of the staff nurse position, they cross over to the other side and no longer care about the patient, or the work conditions, or their fellow nurses.

Klare, I think you sound like the kind of nurse manager who DOES care. I think that you are being unfairly attacked here. I'd like other managers to do what you say you do.

Peace.

Jenny

[SKM-NURSIEPOOH, BSN, RN]

originally posted by susanmary

to name a few -- plastic travel coffee mugs, insulated lunch totes, canvas totes (all with hospital's logo.) i do not expect a gift from my employer for nurse's week. what i would appreciate is adequate staffing, being able to sit down for a break and lunch, the ability to take "earned time" and not float to another unit. administration states how valuable nurses are... yadda-yadda. they certainly talk the talk. if only they would walk the walk. i can afford to buy my own coffee mugs, totes, etc. what i can't buy is better working conditions -- that would be the ultimate nurse's week gift. that is what we deserve. period.

good thoughts are being sent to all.

here-here!!!

[l.rae]

If my NM had the same attitude as KlareRN, I'd call off everyday. Lucky, we have a wonderful NM that makes us feel appreciated everyday. However, our "trinkets" come from upper mngmnt. which makes it all the more insulting. How about using some of that recruitment bonus money and give nurses retention bonuses? What an original thought....

[phaedra111]

one place i worked tied a helium balloon to our med carts,i work nights, so that when i reported to work i had a droopy balloon..

[Jenny P]

l.rae, what is wrong with Klares' attitude here? When she said what SHE wanted for Nurses Day:

"What do I as an RN want for Nurses Day?

1. For the floor staff to quit whining about being "short staffed". If their peers would quit calling in and come to work; they would not be "short staffed" Some of the energy used to complain about it should be used to help come up with ideas to recruit staff

2. To not be told for one whole week that they are overworked. We are all overworked and there is not a very bright light at the end of the tunnel (welcome to healthcare)

3. Do not assume that because I sometimes am in an office behind a desk that I do not have alot of work to do. Not only will I be in the building for at least 10 hours- but I will take work home and get phone calls into the night to solve "nursing" problems when the licensed staff cannot supervise the building. (I am not complaining- I chose to take a management position) I spend the greater part of my time trying to figure out how someone made such a huge medication error, recruiting staff (that you will drive out of the facility by your rudeness), defending the care you are providing to irrate family members, pacifying the medical director, counseling the previous shifts nurse that you have done nothing but complain about because of what she didnt do before you got here, shuffling the schedule to make sure there is at least some staff in the building, writing evaluations (so you might get a raise), checking admission/discharge paperwork (that is never complete), scheduling inservices (that you will not come to), and designing some kind of gift for nurses week (that you will not like)..yadda...yadda

4. Most of all- I would love to just have the nurses appreciate that there is a week set aside to recognize them. I would be thrilled if one of the nurses in one of my facilities came up to me and handed me a cheap keychain and said "Happy Nurses Week." If you came into this profession looking for recognition and praise- you are sadly mistaken. Nurses are overlooked, overworked, and overtired. I realized this during my first clinical experience in school. But- I didnt choose to become a nurse to get a pat on the back or expensive gifts or to become rich. I became a nurse to give compassionate care to my patients. Everyday is nurses day because everyday at least one patient smiles at me...that is gift enough. When you get your cheap piece of "junk"- appreciate the fact that you had what it took to get through school and have what it takes to stay in the profession. No gift has enough value to compete with that. Happy Nurses Week-

Klare"

Like I said before; why is it that staff nurses rip anyone who isn't at the bedside anymore? This is what SHE wanted; and she (like a lot of us) knows she won't get it!

Ahhhhh, what the heck! Sometimes the griping gets to ALL of us! Look: I think the problem is the fact that health care has gone to the dogs. Our pts. pay for their health care and the costs keep going up and up (and CEOs keep getting richer and richer) and we get the shaft (short staffed, overworked, poor pay and lousy trinkets for Nurses Day). So why do we start attacking each other? By crossing the line of leaving the bedside, does a nurse suddenly STOP being a nurse? I don't think so. I really think that as long as we allow ourselves to get sucked into this type of behavior of dividing and fighting amongst ourselves we will remain oppressed and at the bottom of the (figurative) food chain.

[ubcnme]

Well, administration at my place of employment doesn't recognize ANY specific day e.g. secretarie's day, nurses day, etc. They said they will celebrate an All Staff Day sometime....when? They never said...how convenient. Instead, coworkers are left to recognize each other. For example, for secretaries day all of us nurses got together and bought a huge ice cream cake for all of our clerks to show our appreciation for their hard work. Today so far I've rec'd a pin and a coffee mug from other nurses that I work side by side with. At least we have the ability to show our appreciation for one another. And I'm sure the clerks will do something for the nurses...they always do and they make less than half of our salary. It just kills me that if THEY can afford to make the effort, that our employer could do SOMETHING.

[WayneRN]

Our local hospital (which I do not work at) had a full page ad declaring how special nurses are, and they tagged on this line,

"...after all, it's not just a career, it's a calling."

I almost regurgitated my breakfast.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Our hospital usually has a bunch of Nurses' Week events, but they are always only during the 0800-1600 part of the day, and the team I'm on is always on nights... There is a silent auction, with some pretty decent packages including a week off with pay (but the tickets aren't free and are only available during the aforementioned 8-16h time frame), mini-conferences, and this year, a cocktail party (cash bar, all they're paying for are the hors d'oeuvres) to which neither the 12 hour day shift nor the 12 hour night shift will be able to attend... roughly 40% of the front line staff. Last year they gave out pens with the hospital logo on them, you know, the kind that you can buy in bulk, 500 for $50... that either never work or run out of ink after ten lines. When I worked for an agency they gave us all Nurses' Week Survival Kits containing a pad of paper (8 sheets), a pencil, a safety pin, a Band-Aid and a quarter for a pay phone. Too generous by far!:roll

[ubcnme]

We just got a special nurse's day gift from our nurse manager and team leader....one of our staff nurse's is quitting! Yep, the team leader is new...came back from the county jail because the health dept lost their contract with the jail so they had to place all the nurses from the jail at the health dept. This team leader has been here before and was my supervisor when I was first hired before they talked her into going to the jail to try to dig them out; I think she made things worse over there. The staff nurse quitting has been here for over 7 years as a communicable disease/immunization nurse and knows her stuff like the back of her hand. She has been extensively trained in bio-terrorism and emergency management. She just had her evaluation last week and our new team leader took it upon herself to make it personal. So the nurse wrote a rebuttal on her evaluation and turned it back in. The program mgr and team leader requested a meeting with her today and told her how she wasn't being supportive and changes were being made, blah, blah, blah and the team leader DENIED saying any of the things that were said during her evaluation; basically LIED her a$$ off in front of the program mgr and she bought it! We are already short-staffed and they don't care...now it's going to be worse. THEY don't care because THEY don't have to deal with it! We do! The starting pay is lower here than in the hospitals and it makes it difficult for them to recruit AND retain nurses...but they don't care! Neither the program mgr NOR the team leader are able to step in and even do our jobs! They don't even have any idea of what our jobs entail on a daily basis! We have a union meeting on Wednesday night and I'm joining....I told the other girls they had better think seriously on it as well. There have been way too many underhanded things going on and there is only strength in numbers.....Happy Nurses Day!

[janetrnc]

:kiss Why wait for adminstration to do something for you? At our hospital we show appreciation for each other. This year is the best ever with the help of our marketing committee. Today kicked off with a brunch at the hospital and gifts from Nursing service and individual nurse managers for their unit. Each unit, inclduing non nursing departments fixed up gift baskets and some will be given away every day. On Friday, the grand prize is a cruise for two, which will be given away during a nurses appreciation fair. Merchants will be coming in to do makeovers, free portaits, discounted uniforms, jewelry, etc. Our DON put a hand signed note of appreciation inside each gift bag.

Janet

[Huganurse]

Why does secretaries day get recognized but not nurses day? Last week the secretaries received flowers, brunch, and gifts for their day at work. This week is for nurses right? Nobody even knows that it is nurses week where I work. I got nothing today and expect nothing this week. ZERO, NADA, ZILCH. What a bummer! I see how I rate now. I even told the secretaries how lucky they were. They asked why and I told them what I usually get for nurses day. (Although last year I worked in a hospital that did try hard and treat us pretty good.) They shared their brunch with me and we laughed about it but somewhere deep inside I do feel a bit slighted.