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 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.
Night RN - Those are both WONDERFUL examples - and I can see you did such a great job with them both - and their families (which are not always easy to deal with!) Congratulations and keep it up!
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
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
I'm a NICU nurse. Last year I admitted a very sick baby (twin B) who lived for 15 days. I took care of him probably 10 or 11 of those nights. After he died, I wound up taking care of his twin brother. After a few months, twin A went home fairly healthy, considering his rough start. 3 months later, it was just after Christmas and we had our tree up in the unit still. My NM came to me and handed me a package. I was confused, as I had already gotten my secret santa gift. There was a beautifully written card from the mother of the two babies, thanking me for taking care of both of them, and for attending baby B's funeral. In the package was a stained glass butterfly windchime, and the card said that they had hung the same one in baby A's bedroom. My windchime hangs in my room now from my ceiling fan, and anytime I'm cranky about something going on at work, all I have to do is read the card and look at the windchime to remember why I do what I do. (Baby A is now a beautiful, healthy, happy 16 month old who is doing everything a baby his age should be doing and only a NICU nurse would ever be able to tell he is an ex-27 weeker!)
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
(Baby A is now a beautiful, healthy, happy 16 month old who is doing everything a baby his age should be doing and only a NICU nurse would ever be able to tell he is an ex-27 weeker!)
Awwww, sad, and happy, at the same time. Glad the parents seem to be ok!
I got a gracious thank you from a patient yesterday. He was a very pleasant patient to start with. Great sense of humor, and full of interesting stories to tell. He's the kind of patient you would WANT to stay in his room as much as possible if you had the time. He knew full well I was a brand new nurse who's still on orientation (less than a month on the floor), but he never once questioned my abilities. We even joked around several times. For instance once I went to his room to give him medications and he was just getting out of the bathroom. His hospital gown was pretty much completely open in the back except for the ties on the top. His bare butt was hanging out. I went to help him tie the ties on the bottom, but he said it wasn't necessary. His words were "it's ok. I have no problem showing people my a**. Everyone in this room has seen it already anyways". Another time that made me chuckle was when his IV infiltrated (not this part). Anyways, so I removed the infiltrated IV, but had my preceptor insert the new IV (I knew that he was the type of person that if we miss the vein more than once, then he won't be willing ot be stuck again). So while my preceptor was getting ready to insert the IV, he put on his hat but pulled the rim to cover his eyes. He and his wife joked around about him being a wuss and can't even take the pain of an IV stick. Another joking time was when I was getting ready to change his dressings. He's quite a hairy guy and there was quite a bit of tape around the dressing that I was trying to get off. So of course the tape pulling on the hair would hurt. While being careful, he and I joked that he was getting a wax job completely free of charge. Anyways, each time I do something for him, he said I was doing a really great job. Near the end of my shift, when I was doing some last minute care for the patient, he told both me and my preceptor that we were two of the best nurses he's ever had. And he asked if we were to be back the next day (when he's most likely going to be discharged to go home). I said I was not going to be back because I had a class to go to. he was like "oh darn! But good luck with nursing. You did a great job today and I know you will grow and be an amazing nurse". Man, that one patient made me feel that I made the right choice to go into nursing despite all that new grad nurse stress and all. He also gave me a huge boost of confidence.
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
... I said I was not going to be back because I had a class to go to. he was like "oh darn! But good luck with nursing. You did a great job today and I know you will grow and be an amazing nurse". Man, that one patient made me feel that I made the right choice to go into nursing despite all that new grad nurse stress and all. He also gave me a huge boost of confidence.
Wow, he sounds like a neat guy! (and it sounds like you deserved the compliment!)
One of the greatest gifts is when you are out in Wal-mart and someone notice your uniform and realizes you are a nurse. General information is give where do you work, what floor, do you know, ect... Oh yea, my mother, father, sibling, friend, church member ect... said that you are great, you really took good care of them during ther stay. The feeling you get is the greatest feeling. This gift to me is better than any other because this one truly let me know that I'm doing Gods work. I have taken care of his people as if they were he.
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
One of the greatest gifts is when you are out in Wal-mart and someone notice your uniform and realizes you are a nurse. General information is give where do you work, what floor, do you know, ect... Oh yea, my mother, father, sibling, friend, church member ect... said that you are great, you really took good care of them during ther stay. The feeling you get is the greatest feeling. This gift to me is better than any other because this one truly let me know that I'm doing Gods work. I have taken care of his people as if they were he.
Wonderful! (big smile)
I used to work at a chemical dependency unit and had this guy who could have been my grampa, very loveable but very tough and proud. I was able to help work him out of his belief that his drinking wasn't too bad and hadn't hurt anyone. He was then sober in AA for at least 15 years? and I would see him often, he'd introduce me as his "counselor" (I could never get it into his head that I was a nurse, lol!)
I would always feel embarrassed when he would toot my horn, but it felt good, to have helped him when many of my CD patients ended up going back to drinking or worse...
My nicest thank-you came from a lady I'd taken care of for 3 12-hour shifts in a row when I was a brand-new nurse working med-surg. She was a rather large lady who'd had numerous things done to her during her stay in the hospital, one of which was a cervical lipectomy to remove 3lbs of fat from her chin. She had a trach, TPN, central line, all kinds of fun stuff. (found out later that her main issue was not GERD as was thought but laryngeal CA!)
Her husband was not the brightest star in the sky but we managed to teach him how to help her with her trach care, and the doc got us an order for her hubby to bring their dog up to the floor to visit her. She ended up doing very well and went home. I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had told her on my last day that I wouldn't be back the next day, so when I went back to check on her one last time, I found this note waiting for me (this lady was a prolific writer as she couldn't speak from the trach & surgery):
"My #1 Nurse: Thanks for all your help. Have a good rest (you deserve it). I will miss you. You are my guardian angel God sent to watch over me! I can't say enough about how good you are -- your reward will be great!" I cried then and still tear up reading it today. I keep that note in with all my important papers.
Four years later (last December) I was out with my family and someone taps me on the shoulder and asks, "Did you work as a nurse at XXXX hospital?" We both recognized each other and hugged. She thanked me again for taking care of her. Seeing her doing so well was thanks enough.
I recieved another genuine Thank You today. One of my patients had a radical mastectomy and it got infected and has a wound vac for drainage. At one point, doctors came in to change the wound vac dressing. And I could really tell it was really really painful. Not only was the paining screaming and crying out in pain, but I saw the dressing stick to the raw flesh as it was being removed. Internally I cringed. But anyways during this time, I just stood by the patient, and offered her my hand. I told her that whenever the pain got really bad to just have her squeeze my hand. I also told her to try and take deep cleansing breaths. I could not stay during the whole procedure though because I had medications to give my other patients. My preceptor though stayed in the room till the procedure was over. Later on when I went back to this patient's room to give her medication, she told me thanks for the support I have given her. Then later on, she took my hand and thanked me again. Even though being a new nurse is extremely stressful, I just feel better to see my patients feeling better.
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
"My #1 Nurse: Thanks for all your help. Have a good rest (you deserve it). I will miss you. You are my guardian angel God sent to watch over me! I can't say enough about how good you are -- your reward will be great!" I cried then and still tear up reading it today. I keep that note in with all my important papers.
Four years later (last December) I was out with my family and someone taps me on the shoulder and asks, "Did you work as a nurse at XXXX hospital?" We both recognized each other and hugged. She thanked me again for taking care of her. Seeing her doing so well was thanks enough.
Anyways, each time I do something for him, he said I was doing a really great job. Near the end of my shift, when I was doing some last minute care for the patient, he told both me and my preceptor that we were two of the best nurses he's ever had. And he asked if we were to be back the next day (when he's most likely going to be discharged to go home). I said I was not going to be back because I had a class to go to. he was like "oh darn! But good luck with nursing. You did a great job today and I know you will grow and be an amazing nurse". Man, that one patient made me feel that I made the right choice to go into nursing despite all that new grad nurse stress and all. He also gave me a huge boost of confidence.
Thanks for sharing that story!
Liddle Noodnik
3,789 Posts
Night RN - Those are both WONDERFUL examples - and I can see you did such a great job with them both - and their families (which are not always easy to deal with!) Congratulations and keep it up!