Peer recognition program

wannabecnl · Jun 1, 2013

We have a hospital-wide program where anyone can submit a comment, whether employee, patient, family member, or visitor. The comment is posted to our intranet, with the person's name, unit, who sent the comment, and what it was for. For example,

TO: SuzyQ, OR. FROM: Wannabecnl, PACU. DATE: 1/2/03. FOR: Thank you for staying in the PACU with your patient when we were so short-handed yesterday--it made the patient more comfortable and safe, blah blah blah...

When our staff gets one of these, we print it out and stick it on their locker and in our nurses' station. It's just a nice, easy recognition for someone going the extra mile. We've given them to each other for help with tough IV sticks, someone jumping in and helping after hours, whatever. Family members may be able to do this with a card to fill out, but I don't know how it would get put into the system. It's a nice little recognition without being a big deal.

amoLucia · Jun 2, 2013

You have a great idea to recognize staff. Kudos to you! :yes: :yes: But am I misunderstanding your STAR program idea ... is it a board for someone to write a comment about someone else specifically?

All of a sudden I had a terrible flashback to grammar school when kids with the most number of Valentine Day cards were made a big deal over. But the kids who got very few Valentines were left out and felt soooo unappreciated. I remember one year where a tally was actually counted and wrote on the blackboard!!! Talk about recognition, or rather lack of recognition! .

I've never been a fan of Employee Recognition Programs. They always seemed to turn into popularity contests. I've seen scenarios where 'I'll write a comment for you and you write a comment for me'. And fulltime day shift employees outnumber the other shifts. Very parttime staff get overlooked, and nobody remembers them because they're so infreq. Good people get forgotten.

Having said my negatives, I do compliment & commend you for trying someway to positively recognize the staff. So sorely needed! But personally I would prefer to see something done 'in group' rather than individually. As an example, I work 11-7 LTC. So I'd compliment 11-7 CNA staff remembering to complete their 'turning schedules' without me reminding them. Or 7-3 for completing all the weekly weights as needed today. And thanks to 3-11 for pulling out the wheelchairs to the hall on cleaning day (usually 11-7 has to do it on their shift). And thank you to whichever nurses who cleared out the med room by tagging/bagging the pharmacy credit meds. ETC. I wouldn't be naming names.

As supervisor, I also used to LOOSELY organize weekend fun days, like 'Sunday sundaes'. Everybody would bring in something, anything ice cream related. Boy. the icecream parties we'd have!! We'd cook breakfasts some days. Have SANDWICH Saturdays. We would just treat ourselves. We had red T-shirts days, 'wear a flower in you hair day'. Just silly stuff to lighten up. But it was a group activity for us to recognize ourselves.

I don't know if my suggestions help any. Thank you to YOU for your efforts!

Nurse Kyles, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2013

We have a witnessing outstanding work program (WOW!) IT is much like your gold star program that you are talking about. It is a bulletin board with blank sticky notes that say WOW! on them. Anyone can grab one and fill it out & stick it back on the bulletin board. Often patients & their families fill them out for staff. Sometimes they are specifically for individuals & sometimes they are addressed to the whole floor staff. Online versions are available to fill out too. We mostly use the online ones when it is for staff in other departments. We also post all the thank you cards we get from families on our bulletin board with the WOWs. There really hasn't been an issue about people feeling left out. Everyone in our department also gets forwarded email for all of the patient post discharge call back comments. Maybe that is why nobody really feels left out. We are bombarded with an inbox full of positive comments & employee recognition.

wooh, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2013

We have a bulletin board. We write thank yous to other staff that helped us out. I find it amazing. And I never once got a note. (I think it becomes problematic if there is a prize that goes along with it, like at another place I worked, so many thank yous got you stuff like paid time off.) But I like having a place that I can write a thank you, a little something extra than just saying thank you. It's quite popular.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2013

I had some colleagues who wanted to do something like this once... our Nurse Manager quashed the idea and then told everyone else it never came to fruition because the 2 nurses who tried to initiate it "never did anything with it".

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jun 2, 2013

OH... this is one thing they did do when I worked in the hospital. When we started medication scanning, they posted the floor's report card in the backroom and highlighted the names of everyone who fell BELOW the expected 80%. Nice recognition. Then they also posted the quarterly reports of the 100 nurses in the hospital who scanned the highest percentage of meds... as if that has ANYTHING to do with how good of a nurse they are. I recall that my Nurse Manager's name was on that list... she probably gave ONE med that whole quarter.

inko1986 · Jun 4, 2013

Thanks for all the input and suggestions! Its still a work in progress...We are very limited on our "fun" activities. We have to stay in the dress code unless specified by the whole hospital to be "sports team friday". This is def not meant to be a popularity contest, we are possbily using it as a platform for our nominations for the once a year hospital awards. We would like to keep track of them and be able to use the information to nominate bedside nurses for the good work they do.

Thanks again!

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jun 4, 2013

I learned something recently about the difference between compliment and praise. A compliment is a gesture from someone and is THEIR gift to you. You do not have to agree with the compliment but just thank them for the "gift". Praise is an exhortation over something a person can control, like performance, attitude, skill. Praise has been shown to create resilience in the person receiving it. It needs to be specific to be effective.

One of our Directors will put a note on a bulletin board like "Sam completed his certification exam today. Let's all congratulate him!". She does not do it daily, but only when a praise is in order. I have noticed that co-workers will then start sticking little notes around hers, and "Sam" then has multiple praises. They are sincere and they are specific. Key words.

I think your idea has merit and is certainly better than doing nothing. Even a dog gets a pat on the head once in a while.

wooh, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2013

Thanks for all the input and suggestions! Its still a work in progress...We are very limited on our "fun" activities. We have to stay in the dress code unless specified by the whole hospital to be "sports team friday". This is def not meant to be a popularity contest, we are possbily using it as a platform for our nominations for the once a year hospital awards. We would like to keep track of them and be able to use the information to nominate bedside nurses for the good work they do.
Thanks again!

Don't keep track. DO NOT keep track. Don't, don't, don't.

Then it turns into a contest. Who has the most? Does one little thanks equal two big thanks? That's when feelings get hurt, when people start trading "I'll give you one if you give me one. If it "counts" instead of just being a nice extra from your coworker, it loses the spirit of just saying thank you to say thank you.