Have you received memorable cards and gifts from patients and families that made your day? I have always loved to see the cards, flowers, etc that people will send after our patients go home. Especially I like a progress report that shows our caring made a difference!
We may feel like "just another provider" but when we get a little thanks or recognition, for example, "The best unit my mom has been on" etc., it just helps ease the pain of the trials we face and feeling unappreciated.
I know we aren't supposed to take gifts but my supervisor once made an exception. I was caring for a lady in a nursing home and she passed away. Her family gave me a special watch that was made with abelone shell, it was gorgeous. They just liked how I had cared for her in her last days.
This is something that says "thanks" to all of us - and from some of us, to you. It is written as if people with disabilities might have written it, but it seems to apply to any of our nursing experiences:
BEATITUDES FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE
BLESSED ARE YOU who take time to listen to difficult speech, for you
help us to know that if we persevere we can be understood.
BLESSED ARE YOU who walk with us in public places, and ignore the
stares of strangers, for in your friendship we feel good to be
ourselves.
BLESSED ARE YOU who never bid us to "hurry up" and, more blessed,
you who do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them for us,
for often we need time rather than help.
BLESSED ARE YOU who stand beside us as we enter new and untried
ventures, for our unsureness will be outweighed by the times when we
surprise ourselves and you.
BLESSED ARE YOU who ask for our help and realize our giftedness, for
our greatest need is to be needed.
BLESSED ARE YOU who help us with the graciousness of Christ, for
often we need the help we cannot ask for.
BLESSED ARE YOU when, by all things, you assure us that what makes
us individuals is not our particular disability or difficulty but
our beautiful God-given person-hood which no handicapping condition
can confine.
REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDINGLY GLAD for your understanding and love have
opened doors for us to enjoy life to its full and you have helped us
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
i work in psychiatry and one night we got a pt with dementia.we tried to redirect her the best way we can.there was another pt awake that time and i was surprised that she handed me a small paper.when i read it, it says you are doing a great job in handling my co-pt.until now, i am still keeping it because i feel like i am really an RN.
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
As a new nurse, of course I always tried my hardest but sometimes wondered if it was good enough. I had this patient that nobody believed his pain, just wrote it off as a grumpy old man, medication seeker. I had him for two days. After explaining to the resident and getting nowhere, I went to the attending who changed his medication which made all the difference. He wrote the nicest letter about me to my manager and even came by one day with a big hug, kiss and an offer to go to lunch in the cafeteria (yeah right, take lunch??). It made me feel really good as a new nurse.
"GOM's" are the best -- thank you for going the extra mile!
I am only a student but some of the best memories I have had have come from the emotional thank yous from patients. I could not choose a favourite but the one which stands out most in my mind is when a 17 year old kid rang back to the ward to personally thank me for spending time talking to him. What was great about this was that I was talking to him about the drugs that he had been using, but not in a patronising way. The communication methods I used and the things I said to him worked. It is for moments like that, that I chose to do nursing.
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
I am only a student but some of the best memories I have had have come from the emotional thank yous from patients. I could not choose a favourite but the one which stands out most in my mind is when a 17 year old kid rang back to the ward to personally thank me for spending time talking to him. What was great about this was that I was talking to him about the drugs that he had been using, but not in a patronising way. The communication methods I used and the things I said to him worked. It is for moments like that, that I chose to do nursing.
Wow, brings back memories of when I was in my psychiatric rotation in nursing school; I worked with a young man who was in a Youth Center (jail for youths) - can't remember what for but it was alcohol and drug related. I felt like our conversations mattered, I had time to listen and he relaxed and was able to talk. I remember when the rotation was over I cried - I'm not sure why - the prof said that was normal during closure at least in the beginning. I feel teary eyed just remembering that...
One of our most memorable was from the father of a young patient who owned an Indian resturant.
The day after the patient was discharged two taxis arrived and six people began unloading vast amounts of indian food on to the ward.
You could have fed a hundred people on the quantity of curries we got, there were piles of freshly-baked breads, tons of tandoori-baked chickens, prawns, lamb, vegetables.
We all stuffed ourselves stupid and it was a thank-you we never forgot.
Wow, brings back memories of when I was in my psychiatric rotation in nursing school; I worked with a young man who was in a Youth Center (jail for youths) - can't remember what for but it was alcohol and drug related. I felt like our conversations mattered, I had time to listen and he relaxed and was able to talk. I remember when the rotation was over I cried - I'm not sure why - the prof said that was normal during closure at least in the beginning. I feel teary eyed just remembering that...
As I was reading all of these I remembered a wonderufl "thank you" that I got a few months ago. I had been taking care of this elderly woman who needed A LOT of care and was very scared because she wasn't used to not being in control of her body. Basically, she had been incontinent for the past few days (post-op) and was scared that she would never be "normal" again. I did my best to re-assure her that it takes time and this would pass, and the doctor did the same (but in a more rushed manner). Anyways, over the next few days I got to know her and her family very well. During that time, this patient regained control over her bowels and was so excited to tell me, lol. She told me that she knew she would get better because she believed and trusted me. Well, on one of my last days of caring for her, she told me that every year she donates money to a charity and asked me what my favorite charity was. Since she knew she couldn't give me money as a thank-you, she gave me $50 to donate to the charity of my choice (which I did). I took it as a huge compliment because not only is that a lot of money to give to one person as a thank you, but also because she trusted me in so many ways. I'm not even a nurse yet, but I can't wait to graduate and finally be an RN!!
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
...on one of my last days of caring for her, she told me that every year she donates money to a charity and asked me what my favorite charity was. Since she knew she couldn't give me money as a thank-you, she gave me $50 to donate to the charity of my choice (which I did). I took it as a huge compliment because not only is that a lot of money to give to one person as a thank you, but also because she trusted me in so many ways. I'm not even a nurse yet, but I can't wait to graduate and finally be an RN!!
That's awesome! Goes to show you that TIME is most valuable to those we care for (and is unfortunately a rare commodity!)
Glad for you, what a great experience, and for her, PRICELESS!
Specializes in Surgery in HepatoPancreatobiliaryGastro.
chocolates and a general 'thank you' cards to all are always welcome and nice but i have personal faves. i used to work in the private part of a london hospital and i received these personalised 'thank you' letters and cards from patients. i still prefer those than chocolates! and i'm a bit of a chocoholic! they last longer and puts a smile on one's face and they're always good reminders of 'why we've all become nurses'.:balloons:
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
chocolates and a general 'thank you' cards to all are always welcome and nice but i have personal faves. i used to work in the private part of a london hospital and i received these personalised 'thank you' letters and cards from patients. i still prefer those than chocolates! and i'm a bit of a chocoholic! they last longer and puts a smile on one's face and they're always good reminders of 'why we've all become nurses'.:balloons:
I've had a couple thanks yous that stick out in my mind.
The hospital where I used to work at had papers thumb-tacked to the bulletin boards in each patients room that said "Thank you to _____" and a big space was left so they could fill in why.
Well, a doctor made rounds one evening to tell a patient that he wasn't a candidate for a CABG. With me being a night nurse, I don't get to see but a handful of doctor's that make rounds that late and this was not one of the usual ones, so I listened at the door what all he explained to the patient. The doctor was out of there in about a minute's time. I had the patient's pills in my hands and went in and assessed him and gave him his meds. I then asked the patient what the doctor had said. (I do this b/c it's nice to know what their take on what was said is.) I could tell the patient and his family was upset. I told them that I would come back and talk with them in a few minutes and explain what the doc had said in understandable english if they would give me a few minutes to see my last couple of patients. They agreed.
I ended up spending an hour and a half with the patient and the family, explaining, answering questions, and basically saying that the doc would have operated if he felt he would come through it okay, but didn't wanna take that chance. I explained some of the new meds the doc was gonna put him on and looked at the patient and his family and said that he could get better, but there's always that chance that he could get worse. The family thanked me and said that that was all they wanted here. Everyone else had been dancing around the "can my dad die?" answer and I was the only one that was saying he could die ... I then told him that the future is an uncertainty and for all I know I could go around the corner and just plop to the ground. (This brought a laugh from all of them when the patient looked at me and said ... before you do that ... can you help me to the bathroom first?!) lol
The next couple nights I had him, I had BP and breathing problems with him, but I would always get him fixed for dayshift (in which of course he dind't have problems then lol). I kept him and the family updated in what I was doing and why. They seemed to appreciate it.
I had the patient again a couple days later. We were sending him to cleveland clinic for a second opinion. Just as soon as I got out of report to start the night, they called and said they had a bed for him. I called the doc's and let them know that he was going that night. I walked in the patients room. His eyes and his families eyes lit up when they saw me. I looked and them and said "You just became the luckiest person in the world." He looked at me and asked why. I told him that they just called and said he had a bed, and that meant he didn't have to put up with me all night long. He said "whew! Dodged the bullet on that one!" He laughed so hard he turned purple lol.
Now is where those little papers come in, while I was getting his stuff ready for the trip to Cleveland Clinic, the family had went and gotten a bunch of those papers, and every one of the family members had written a tahnk you on it as well as the patient himself. I'd never had one before, and when I read them (they handed them to my charge nurse to give to our nursing supervisor ... but the charge nurse let me read them first) I literally started crying. It made my night. =)
Another one is I had a patient who was sick, not keeping meds down, he liked the phenergan better than Zofran b/c that was the only time he'd get some sleep and it was only 30 minutes. The pt's wife called and asked how he was doing .. well at that time, I had just walked past his room and looked at him and he was asleep. Granted he was sleeping with the puke pail, but he was asleep. She was relieved.
An hour or so later, he's throwing up again, and it looks blood tinged. I thought it's probably from his throat where he was throwing up so much. 30 min after that his abd started hurting. RED FLAG CITY!!!!! I listened and sure enough where there had been bowel sounds at 8pm that evening, now just after midnight there were none. So, I went and got 3 other nurses to listen (my stethoscope was falling apart so I didnt always trust it) .. they agrreed, one quadrant, no sounds.
I called the doc that'd I'd already pestered 3 times before ... I have to suggest to him to get an abd xray, lactic acid, and ask if i can put an NG down him, along with get some various other labs. He lets me. (this doc can not be bright sometimes. o.O)
So my co-workers got the stuff out for me. I'd never put an NG tube down at all, not even during nursing school, and they didn't remind me I had to measure it. Well, I was flying blind as I was putting it down. The patient was pale and diaphoretic before I put it down. It was the easiest my co-workers had ever said they've saw one go down. We guessed about how far (an oops in my book for not measuring!), and immediately the pt had color in his cheeks. There was so much air come out of the ng tube when we first put it down that it could have blown up a balloon. X-ray confirms we guess placement right and hooked up to suction. (Ended up getting 1200 out in 5 hours.)
I looked at the patient and told him I needed to call his wife and let her know else she'll shoot me in the morning when she comes in and sees all the tubes. He agreed and for the first time that shift, laughed. I could tell he was feeling better.
I called the wife. She didn't say "hello". I guess she had caller id. She said, "Oh god, what's wrong?" I reassured her that I fixed him and that he's ok and in the room talking. I explained all I did and she asked if she could come in. The patient was in a semi but I told her if she was quieter than a mouse she could. I also told her that her husband said that if she was to get there in under an hour, I had permission to yell at her. (They lived 45 min away.) SHe laughed and said he must be feeling some better.
She got there. I explained the set up to her and her daughter and son (she brought both kids b/c surgery had been consulted .. just not seen yet). FOr once, the patient was sound asleep. I'm talking snoring with the NG tube. For a man that'd not slept in 4 days (he was there all 4 days), he was outcold. ((Side note, I'd never heard anyone snore with an NG before .. but I have now lol.))
The patients wife hugged me and thanked me over and over and said she believed I saved his life. I told her I was just doing my job and I was glad he was able to get some sleep now.
When I left that shift, she hugged me again and thanked me again, as well as her kids hugged me. (Grown kids!) That was one of the nights that I can honestly say I saw the fruits of my labor, and the outcome was good, and on top of everything else, I got a thanks you from the man, and his family. =)
I know one thing. Those's few thank you's that we do get sure outweight the ones we don't get. Even if we do spend the same amt of time doing something for someone and never hear a peep of thank you. When we do hear them, it does go straight to the heart.
I got an odd but touching thank you this weekend; a woman who had just been told (2 days prior) that her lung ca was in remission found out that it had mets'd to her brain and her prognosis is basically nonexistant. On Saturday night she was pretty much in denial and refused to talk to anyone about it, even her family; her husband said that she even refused to cry. While assessing her, I mentioned that I heard that she had a rough day at which point she buried her face in my stomach and bawled her eyes out. I just let her go and never said a word. After approx 10 minutes she stopped and dried her eyes and asked could I call the chaplain to come in at about 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. I made the arrangements and when I went back to tell her, she told me that she hadn't felt the freedom to cry until I "gave her" permission. I think this was her way of thanking me, and I let her know that I or any of my coworkers were glad to talk to her about anything if she needed it. I just hope I made a difference in what appears to be her last days--I am praying for a miracle, she was a very nice lady
I originally posted this on 10/3/06, and she died on 10/31/06. I found out today when I got to work and saw a thank you bouquet to our floor with a thank you card addressed to me. Needless to say I bawled my eyes out
-- thank you for going the extra mile!
Liddle Noodnik
3,789 Posts
ha ha, neat!