Nurses week Cheap gifts from admin.

Nurses General Nursing

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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.

Here is last years thread about what we got for nurses week:

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2567

Ooooooh, KlareRN. You really know how to get us going. You sound EXACTLY like my old manager; because of her I said "The H*** with this nonsense," and went into business for myself. I could not be happier.

You seem to have bought into all the "managementspeak" and guilt trips you manager types all seem to be masters of.

First of all: STAFFING is a MANAGEMENT dilemma. THAT is why YOU get the big bucks. YOU are responsible for replacing staff who have called in sick, are on vacation, ed leave, disability, or WHATEVER. It is YOUR job to call registry or the per diem pool in the MORNING so that you will not run short at 3 P.M. and start trying to bully people into staying overtime; or, worse yet, laying guilt trips on them like "What if that was YOUR mother in there? "

PLEASE. My mother is dead. Even if she was not, I would never recommend she go to a hospital where the staff nurses were treated so badly (and insultingly) by management.

We are contracted, 8 hour employees (well. some are 10 or 12 hour employees.) We are under absolutely no obligation to stay one minute past our contracted time. We may have other jobs to go to; we may have children to pick up from day care and take to sports, WE MAY JUST WANT TO GO HOME AND VEGETATE ON THE COUCH AND HAVE A DRINK OR TWO OR TEN!!!! The point is, what we do after our contracted shift is none of your business, and we should not have to make excuses or apologies as to why we can't help you out of your staffing dilemma. HANDLE IT. That is your JOB.

People don't deserve to be chastised by their peers for calling in sick. My old boss used to put the names of the people who called in sick on the board, and then say at report, after a big sigh, "Well, there won't be any morning breaks, and lunches will be late. Maybe you should let your colleagues who called in sick how you feel aboout that..." How unprofessional of her!!

Another thing she did was put a written message on the board for you to get whenever you got out of your room (I am an O.R. nurse) whenever the school called and said your child was sick. She would not tell you verbally, or transfer the call to your room.

One time I was scrubbed on a case for over 6 hours. When I came out, there were THREE increasingly urgent messages (wirtten over the course of the entire 6 hours) on the board for me, informing me of my 4 year old's rapidly increasing fever and lethargy. Each said "Child needs to be picked up NOW!" When I came out, and saw the 3 messages, and said I needed to go, her response was "Don't you have a neighbor or someone who can pick him up?" When I got there, he had a fever of 104 and had broken out in chicken pox.

I could go on and on, but you get my drift. It seems you management types JUST DON'T GET IT. I have noticed that they (management) BLATANTLY (they don't even make excuses; it's public knowledge) take off all the time they want for (supposed) crises involving their GROWN children, or for any other reason WE (staff RNs) would NEVER get away with. (I have noticed that the grown children of management types always seem to be dysfunctional and unable to cope with routine adult situations; a lot of them are still living at home, well into their 20s...)

One last comment: There is no such word as "overceeded." The word I believe you were looking for is "exceeded." That's another thing: ever notice that management types, despite their advanced degrees, always seem to make terrible grammar and spelling errors?

Specializes in Case Management, Life Care Planning.

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.

:lol2: OMG!!! FOFLMAO!!!!!

At my hospital they are giving the nurses popcorn and DIET coke. I know one nurse that was asked what she thought about it, she told administration to stick it somewhere. This hospital has almost 2000 beds too

Brett

This is so timely. It ain't just nurses, folks. On one of the other BBs I frequent, there is an active topic called "Morale Boosters That Failed Horribly." Posters from every walk of life--retail, corporate, technogeeks--all have the same complaints about managers who attempt to placate their employees with gestures rather than with something they might actually value, like money, respect, or time. Lurid tales abound re: The Mandatory Picnic of 1998, or The Time Management Gave Us Pet Goldfish Instead of Bonuses.

As one poster put it, "Give me money. Give me comp time. Or leave me the hell alone." :p

In our hospital, for Nurses' Week, they came around with a cart and gave us each an ice cream cone....one flavor, vanilla.

Bet you're all envious! :)

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

Nurse's Day came and went at my employer without a peep. The silence was deafening.

But... my fellow nurses and I enjoyed a delicious catered lunch from Olive Garden that we bought and coordinated ourselves, and my husband sent me a bouquet of flowers.

For secretaries day a couple weeks ago the clinic went out and had a full lunch catered for all the receptionists.

I don't get it.

Cake...we got cake. In the cafeteria. As if we had time to go get it!

As the nurse manager of an Air Force peds clinic, I bought all my nurses a ticket to the steak sale the hospital was having to raise money for nurse/med tech appreciation week at the end of May ( so our hospital does things a little differently!) Not all managers are bad!! Wish I could afford to do more for my staff.

For the hospital nurse/tech week, a breakfast is planned, a cookout or two and a couple of other activities. Not too shabby for a military med center. Leadership heads up all these activities. Even at my last base, the nurses were all recognized and we had our annual group photo taken. Sorry to hear that nurses out in the civilian sector don't celebrate each other!

Specializes in Leadership/Critical Care/Surgery/Seniors.

I can't believe the anger and disdain that has been generated in this post. It seems that nurses are generally feeling undervalued in their work. I agree, there are some managers that are not suited to be managers and don't do a good job, just as there are some staff nurses that aren't worth their salt and shouldn't be nurses.

Perhaps your manager was wise and decided not to give you unwanted trinkets and patronizing words that you wouldn't want anyway. It seems that most nurses want increased pay, more vacation, more time off from their managers - which, by the way, none of them have the power to give you even if they feel you deserve it. (They don't in a unionized workplace, not sure about those of you who work in a nonunionized environment)

I understand feeling undervalued because your manager is not understanding of personal or family issues you may be experiencing. I understand feeling undervalued because of various work related issues. I do NOT understand feeling undervalued by your managers because your rate of pay is too low, or you don't get enough time off, or that you don't get enough vacation. Your manager can do nothing about these issues. These are higher level administrative issues, and perhaps you need to become part of a union that can represent you in the bargaining process.

I also don't understand nurses who talk about "management types" in the context that has been discussed. You find it hurtful that you get silly trinkets. I find it hurtful that some of you lump all managers together - accusing them all of practicing the same behaviors.

I am responsible for staffing the unit when there are sick calls, or when we need extra staff because of workload. That is my responsibility that I accept. Hearing the attitudes expressed here, it makes me sorry that I cover for you while you went to your son's award ceremony at school today, that I came in and worked 4 hours for you so that you could attend your daughters grade 9 graduation, that I worked a weekend for you so that you could visit with your parents from out of town when my parents were also visiting from out of town. I am sorry that I let you go home early when I come in early. yada yada yada.

Actually, I am not sorry. I am very grateful to have the staff that I have. My staff are very appreciative of the things I do for them, and tell me on a regular basis. I feel valued as a manager by my staff. I feel valued because I ensure I treat my staff nurses with dignity and respect. Worklife isn't perfect where we are either, but we make an effort to treat each other with dignity and respect.

Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

My hospital is attempting to recover from an 8 million dollar defecit right now! I doubt that we are getting a darn thing this year. Crappy thing is is that National Nurses Week is the same week as National Hospital Workers Week. Last year the entire hospital staff received a very nice denim shirt emblazoned with the new hospital logo.

We may get a few trinkets from the Nursing Ed. dept and from our District Nurses Association like last year we got a pen on a rope and a name badge lanyard.

We'll see.

Specializes in CV-ICU.

I agree with Stormy here; don't lump all nurse managers together.

Stevierae, I commented about your attacking Klare on the other thread; you sound as though you have issues with bad managers and I feel that you are unfairly attacking a nurse manager (whom I don't know) who sounds as though she is trying to do the best job she can within the confines of her job description.

I have had a number of good nurse managers; I talked my current one into applying for this position because I worked under her elsewhere and she is a hardworker and fair to her staff. I've worked under another manager not once but twice in separate ICUs who would back up her staff to the point that she was fired a number of times! Each and everyone of her staff would have gone to the ends of the Earth if she asked us to! She is now dead; but those of us that have worked under her will never forget her, nor that there ARE good nurses in management who do support us.

This thread is on cheap gifts from administration. Please stick to it.

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