Holidays at Work

MasterStreet, MSN, RN

The Holidays are finally upon us and many of our nurses and un-licensed nursing staff will be working for much of the Holiday season; taking them away from their families and friends. I have been in nursing for 24 years working my way from a CNA to RN MSN, and when I look back over my career, I can honestly say that I probably worked 18 Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and over 20 New Years. Between the years of 1997 and 2015, I worked every New Year’s Eve.

My memories of those years are not full of disappointment or regret, but of great memories of work-family fun. I remember one year when I was working as a CNA in a nursing home on night shift and we planned a Christmas party with a potluck where everyone brought a dish. We played Secret Santa and everyone got a gift, and we all took pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Of course, this was back when taking pictures at work was not a no-no. The next year at the same job, we did the same thing except we played Dirty Santa instead of Secret Santa, which made the party a little funnier.

This reason is why your “work family” is so important during the holidays. What do I mean when I say, “work family”? Your work family is the co-workers that you work beside daily. I mean think about it, we spend more time with our co-workers than we do some of our own family members. We can take advantage of this during the holidays and make working the holidays not such a dreadful thing.

Between the years 2014 and 2019, I was working the night shift as a staff nurse on a busy acute care unit. This job was the epitome of what “work family” means. We were a very family-oriented team who made plans together both inside and outside of work, and we celebrated every holiday that we worked together. For Halloween, we would all dress up in costumes and have a Halloween party and a Halloween Costume Contest. Thanksgiving was always a potluck with everyone bringing different dishes, and we would end up with a Thanksgiving feast at work. Christmas was always the best, we would have another potluck, an ugly Christmas sweater contest, the best Christmas scrubs contest, play Secret Santa, and take pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Finally, on New Year’s Eve, yes, we partied on New Year’s Eve as well. Our New Year’s Eve party would consist of everyone bringing finger foods, a Happy New Year hat, sparkling cider with plastic champagne glasses for toasting the new year, and of course taking a Happy New Year picture. Great times and great memories, I still have most of the pictures. So, if you are working this holiday season, get together with your “work family” and plan a shift party. This can help to create a positive, healthy, inclusive work environment that fosters comradery and teamwork, which can also lead to improved patient outcomes because happy staff means happy patients.

On another note, many of us, depending on our work setting, can also help to make the holidays happier for our patients, especially for those who work in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. I currently work as a DON in an assisted living facility, and this year we included the residents by having the staff choose a resident to buy a gift for Christmas. Many of my staff chose more than one resident. We bought inexpensive gifts for things that they may have needed, such as socks, toiletries, pajamas, etc. We also made a Christmas stocking for each resident as well. This notion can help to create a caring and compassionate environment for your patients or residents, especially for those residents who do not have any family, or their family lives out of town and are unable to visit.

These are just a few ideas that can help make working through the holidays not only better but will leave you with the best memories of working during the holidays. The Holiday Season can be one of the best ways to facilitate a family-oriented environment that can continue throughout the rest of the year. Happy Holidays.

Holidays at Work

About MasterStreet, MSN, RN

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