Nurses' Week - Upended.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

You are reading page 4 of Nurses' Week - Upended.

Specializes in Dialysis, Hospice, Critical care.

National Nurses Week - The one week of the year hospital administrators pretend to care about the well-being of nursing staff.

kjb_lpn

33 Posts

I feel, honestly, that night workers in general, be they nurses or a law enforcement officer like my husband, don' often get acknowledgement they deserve because of their shift.

It sounds like your HCS like so many now just cares about dollars. You deserve that burlap bag, girlfriend. And hey; like some have said, even if coporate forgets your patients won't.

My current facility is also not recognizing nurses or CNAs and from what I've heard, they never have. We are only celebrating nursing home week. This is a bad move on their part because of poor staffing and low morale. A little appreciation would go a long way.

Career Columnist / Author

Nurse Beth, MSN

146 Articles; 3,468 Posts

Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

I have mixed feelings about Nurses Week. It's the same feeling I have when shopping for a Hallmark birthday card for a relative who really isn't nice and the platitudes don't fit. Sometimes I'm even glad when it's over.

I believe in celebrating Florence Nightingale's birthday but Nurse's Week often brings up reminders that as nurses we are not respected and empowered on the job. Sad to say.

Maybe we will always be disappointed if we expect something from our employers. I wonder if there's a way to turn it around and take charge of our own celebration. Celebrate ourselves bc we know we're awesome!

raki86

2 Posts

Thank you, Wheels. Means so much to nurses!!

klone, MSN, RN

14,790 Posts

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Where does Nurses' Week even come from? Who thought it up? Was it the ANA trying to strong-arm the hospitals, so now administrators make their resentments known by half hearted gestures?

I really am curious...

It's commemorates Florence Nightingale's birthday (5/12). It's celebrated throughout the world. The US started celebrating it in 1954.

International Nurses Day - Wikipedia

Where I work, our administrative professionals got a catered meal and coverage for their positions while they got to enjoy their meal. I thought that was a wonderful gesture. As of yet, we have received a big fat goose egg for nurses week. I feel that if an organization is going to recognize one profession they need to recognize the rest, not pick and choose. A fellow nurse brought me breakfast one day and another coworker bought my lunch for nurses week. I think being consistent with recognition is nice throughout the year, not just when dictated by what week society has deemed it to be. I would be happy with sincere recognition, appreciation, and of course, cash is always good.

wondern, ASN

694 Posts

... I wonder if there's a way to turn it around and take charge of our own celebration. Celebrate ourselves bc we know we're awesome!

Uh, yes Nurse Beth, that's a fantastic idea! I'm about to get out and garden a little but before I do I could't help but post all us nurses a celebration song! Love you brothers and sisters in nursing. Happy Nurse's Week to us all! :inlove:

Now those are some white shoes that can move! :cool:

Specializes in ED, psych.

One of the ambulance companies brought us candy for nurses week ... we were touched.

Administration hasn't acknowledged us yet ... a giant metro hospital.

Wheels, thank you ❤️. You're what counts.

Nurse2b7

4 Posts

Specializes in Telemetry and Nursing Faculty.

Some health systems have billions in revenue and so called "non profits" still have a profit of millions of dollars. The CEO has a multi-million dollar salary. What they need to do to show their appreciation for nurses is to pay them decent wages and invest in staffing. Just my opinion.

klone, MSN, RN

14,790 Posts

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Some health systems have billions in revenue and so called "non profits" still have a profit of millions of dollars. .

Of course they do; if they didn't, they would not be viable. "Non profit" doesn't mean that they don't or can't or shouldn't make profit, it just means that the profit doesn't go to shareholders or a board of directors, but instead is invested back into the facility.

Have Nurse, ADN, RN

3 Articles; 719 Posts

Specializes in Med/Surg/Infection Control/Geriatrics.
I have worked for a large hospital system for about nine years now. My initial Catholic hospital was acquired by a larger hospital system in the same area more or less because of a failure to thrive. My "old hospital", even when in it's imminent demise, still provided a Nurses' Week gift to all of its employees. The gift was equivalent to a burlap sack, but it still represented the respect that upper management had for its nurses at the time.

Fast forward to 2018 - this year the Nurses Week committee voted to not hand out individual gifts to nurses but instead offer them "plenty of events" to participate in throughout the week. These being the same events that we've had every week for the last 5-6 years since rebranding/acquisition. These events include chair massages that run primarily on day shift, ice cream socials that simply will not work for those of us trying to improve our health, and CE credits that are generally unavailable to staff who work the off shift. The individual gift was the one part of the week that united all of us as nurses. It made us feel good. It was the one giant "thank you," that we received from those who do not work the front-lines everyday. That thanks is now gone, due to what seems like whatever budgeting crisis the system is currently experiencing.

2017-2018 has been another average year. Another year with poor RN staffing, little show in improving employee satisfaction (IMO), and what seems like little thanks for again earning Magnet designation, proving HRO accountability, and meeting/exceeding other metric performance measures.

Forgive my selfish-sounding rant, but I find it difficult to believe that unit clerks are entitled to a gift, and the nurses are not. A $5 coffee mug or tumbler for each nurse surely cannot surpass a CEO/CIO's bonus each year.

Shame on my system. Shame.

Thank you for listening.

Yep. I feel your pain. Even a box of chocolates would be nice!!

+ Add a Comment