How was Nurses Week celebrated at your Facility

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 13, 2009

Each year HR asks me "When is nurses Week" : Gee it hasn't changed in 20+ years!

Nurse Week has morphed into Colleague Appreciation Day " as we want to acknowledge all members of home health care team".

Had signs posted to all entrace to offices. Each banch of company had either breakfst or lunch. Billing Dept and I get the pleasure of planning this and Christmas cellebration. Had catered breakfast sandwaches, french toast, fresh fruit cup, juice, bagels and danish tray. We had our own coffee as thrw out most last year.

Each manager wrote card thanking staff & included $5.00 convenience store/gas card (instead of homesafety ki0. Gave extra movie tickets to those exemptstaff who stay late to help when were swamped (ineligible for overtime as salaried).

Think I will push recruitment and retention to try and get business to donate next year since were non-profit.

SweetLemon · May 13, 2009

With food brought in by drug reps but no one had enough time to go down to the cafeteria to get any :lol2: Oh well part of being a nurse im sure.

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · May 13, 2009

We got a 99 cent plant from walmart and a "gift bag" with a handful of candy in it. We didn't even get a company umbrella or coffee cup like we did last year. Guess they really appreciated all the work we did for the JC visit....

Chewie_123 · May 13, 2009

We had pancakes one day, made by the executive team (lots of acronyms and people I will never see me again). The CMO made me one shaped like a snowman. I'll take whatever I can get.

ksrose1 · May 13, 2009

Our hospital gave us a certificate that said happy nurse's week.....our floor supervisor gave us a "write up". We were told that if flushes were found on the floor and the person that left it could not be found all licensed personal working would get a write up. I work weekends, Friday, Saturday and Sunday the flush was found on Tuesday. So Happy Nurses day.......

Fiona59 · May 13, 2009

I'm on evenings. Never knew it was nurses week....

tie_dye00 · May 13, 2009

day shift got popcorn and a soda, those of us on night shift got nothing. just a thank-you for working mandatory overtime for the last 5 months, always working short, and taking care of our record high inpatient census would be nice.

HazeKomp, BSN, RN · May 13, 2009

a continental-type breakfast bar in the Board Room of Administration....at 7:30 am... when dayshift is at their busiest and night shift is exhausted.

wow. not.

allnurses Guide · May 13, 2009

Last night I got a nice card signed by the DON and all of the managers, and a rose. There was also a cookout with mystery meat burgers :), bratwurst, beans and potato salad. There have been various other activities too, and free T-shirts were handed out this week.

BEDPAN76 · May 13, 2009

I'm (almost) feeling guilty about the seafood buffet w/ crablegs my LTC gave us last week. Yesterday we got a beach towel and insulated lunch bag w/ company logo on it. But I remember years at other places, we got nothing. Anyway, Happy Nurses Week to all! :yeah:

caliotter3 · May 13, 2009

One year I worked night shift at a long term facility. I practically had to throw a chair at a CNA to get her to answer the front door to get the pizzas that had been ordered for us. The pizza was begrudgingly brought into the break room where it sat, untouched, all night long.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · May 13, 2009

Hate to rub it in.....At our LTC we had a seafood buffet with crab legs, crab cakes, fried and steamed shrimp, bacon-wrapped scallops, fried chicken wings, chesecake, all the fixings. One hospice sent a ton of donuts and another sent a sheet cake. They're doing breakfast for us in the a.m. But I will say that in over 30 years of nursing, other places either ignored it or gave something really tacky like a keychain. Anyway, Happy Nurse's Week to all! (burp!)....

That would NEVER happen on our unit. We have a nurse who works (very) casually (cancels most of her shifts and calls in sick at her regular job) who has a shellfish allergy. We are not allowed to even carry to work plastic containers that had shellfish in it last week, because she had an anaphylactic reaction to being told someone had eaten shrimp in the breakroom on the previous shift...

We got the wonderful opportunity to attend a couple "educational" inservices... gee thanks. I wasn't expecting much but for them to promote that like it's any sort of celebration seemed ridiculous.

Nurses' Week in Canada is this week and not last. Our College (board) of Nursing arranged a day-long workshop at the conference centre downtown that was part education and part entertainment. They called it "Nursing: Celebrate. Recognize. Appreciate." It was by registration only and I think there was a "small fee" (plus $15 for parking). Reviews from two friends who attended: "I could have been sleeping. And they threw away all the leftover food! They could have donated it to the mens' shelter down the block, but they threw it out!"

Our facility had "Laugh Yoga" on Monday midday for four separate sessions... you had to go to the main auditorium to partake. Today they had an Edufair (workshops on esoteric stuff that somebody is using for a Masters thesis) from 0730 to 1230 and tomorrow there's the Nurses' Week Tea. Watered down punch and mass-produced cookies that anyone with an ID card hanging off their clothes will help themselves to.

Gifts? Our UNION gives us gifts each year. They brought me a huge bag of pens, ID zip-lines and airway barrier devices to carry in our purses to hand out to the rest of hte staff. (I'm the unit rep.) Well, sorry folks. Somebody else has to do it... I'm not scheduled to work for the rest of the week and on Saturday I'm going to New Orleans.